We Are Celestians
by Annastesia LaFayette
Summary: Archer, Tucker and T'Pol have crash landed on a planet while exploring a nebula. After time passes by they give up hope of being found and resolve to living the rest of their days on the planet. As they settle in to their new lives they receive a strange message from the stars.
1. Chapter 1

**We Are Celestians**

**Chapter 1**

_**In the beginning...**_

A few days prior Enterprise had discovered a nebula that wasn't in the Vulcan database. Captain Archer was excited to have the chance to explore an area that the Vulcans hadn't been to before or even know had existed. After taking initial scans of the nebula from a distance, he decided he wanted to get inside to get a better look.

Trip had voiced concerns of the possibility that dust particles would get sucked up into the exhaust intakes, clogging the plasma manifolds and suggested that entering the nebula by shuttle would be the best course of action to protect the ship from possible heavy damage. In reality, if there should be any small particles to clog up systems, he would prefer it be a smaller craft to deal with the clean-up. Archer agreed with his assessment and he, Trip and T'Pol set out in a shuttle pod to get their readings.

They realized that they would be out of communication contact while in the nebula, as there was some sort of interference blocking transmissions. So it was prearranged that the shuttle would spend the next three days inside the nebula, taking scans and gathering as much details as they could, reuniting with Enterprise on the opposite side of the nebula cloud.

They were on their second day inside the nebula, taking their scans, making their charts and Trip having one fight after another keeping the particle sludge at bay when Jon could see the cloud of the nebula beginning to clear. "Are we on the other side, entering into normal space?" He asked T'Pol.

"No sir. According to the scans we obtained on Enterprise, we couldn't have possibly made it to the other side this soon. This must just be simply a pocket of area where the density of the nebula cloud isn't as thick as the rest of the area." T'Pol explained.

Trip's eyes grew wide as he pointed out the window. "Uh. Is that a planet?"

Jon and T'Pol turned to look at where Trip was pointing. It did appear to be a small planet in the middle of this nebula. Even though it wasn't unheard of for a planet to exist inside of a nebula, it was still an exciting and unexpected discovery.

"T'Pol, scan for life signs." Jon said with excitement.

T'Pol took her scans then gave her report. "I'm not reading any life signs. It is oxygen rich. Not quite a Minshara Class planet, but close."

Trip grinned at the sound of that. "After three days, I don't think Enterprise would mind if we're a couple hours late. We could just go down and take a quick look around."

Jon thought that sounded like a good idea, after all, they were there to explore. He set the shuttle's course towards the planet. The shuttle didn't make it into orbit when all hell broke loose. The shuttle jerked and was spinning out of control towards the planet as Jon fought the controls to stop the spinning. They were going to crash, but he was doing everything he could to make sure they would survive. "What the hell happened?" He yelled.

Trip checking instruments. "I don't know! We're losing power!" He said as he jumped out of his seat to look over Jon's shoulder and check the navigational instruments. Not finding an answer there he began moving about the shuttle, pulling at panels in the hopes of finding the problem and prevent the inevitable crash landing.

"We're going down!" Jon yelled. Before Trip could brace himself the shuttle hit the land hard causing him to be thrown forward and slamming his head into the edge of the comm station. Trip reached up and grabbed his forehead. He pulled his hand away looking at the blood that covered it.

As Jon checked the navigational systems, T'Pol grabbed the med kit and tended to Trip's wound. Jon opened the hailing frequency. "Shuttle Pod One to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise." The response was static. "Archer to Enterprise. Are you reading?" Static. Jon made some adjustments then tried again. "Archer to Enterprise do you copy?" More static. Jon looked over and saw T'Pol looking at him with a cocked eyebrow. "What? With any luck, with the clearing in the nebula, we might get a signal through." T'Pol tipped her head. She couldn't argue with his logic.

After a few moments and more adjustments Jon gave up and tapped a button that would send a continuous automated distress call in the hopes that Enterprise would receive it.

After Trip was patched up, he started out to check the damage to the shuttle. As he opened the hatch, he was greeted by a blast of hot air. He instantly took off his jacket and tossed it on one of the chairs.

While Trip worked, Jon decided that he and T'Pol take a look around the area. Trip had found the problem, but couldn't figure out how it happened, and wasn't able to fix it. They were stuck here.

At some point, Trip had taken off his shirt, leaving him in his tank top, as the air was hot and humid. He was sitting against the shuttle, contemplating stripping off his pants, when he heard a rustling in the bushes.

He grabbed his pistol, he figured that it was either T'Pol or the Captain returning but didn't want to be caught unprepared. A small creature with light grey fur hopped out. It had the face of a rabbit and ears that were twice as long as its body and stood straight up. It was smaller than Earth rabbits and its hind legs, feet and tail reminded Trip of a kangaroo. Trip put down his pistol and reached out his hand, making kissing noises at it. He was mildly surprised when the animal hopped over to him.

"You're an odd looking thing. Kinda cute though." Trip said as he gave the creature a scratch on the head between its ears. Trip had always been in tune with nature and figured that the animal sensed he wasn't a threat to it. It wiggled its nose at Trip, wiggled its nose at the shuttle before hopping over to the shuttle for a better look. It hopped back to Trip for another scratch on the head before hopping away. "Bye little rabaroo." Trip called as it hopped away.

A short while later, Archer and T'Pol returned, leaving Trip to break the bad news. "We've lost over ninety percent of our power. I don't understand how it could've happened, there isn't any damage to the plasma cells, it's like someone stuck a straw into the engine and sucked out all the power in one gulp."

"Do we have enough power to at least break orbit?" Jon asked with concern.

"Cap'n, we don't have enough power to break the tops of the trees, let alone orbit. We're stuck here."

After eating their meals of rations, Jon decided it would be best for them to sleep in the shuttle for safety.

Jon couldn't sleep worrying about how they would get off the planet without power. He rolled over in the tight space and looked at Trip and T'Pol who were cuddled against each other. Trip was lightly snoring and Jon wondered how T'Pol, with her sensitive hearing, could sleep but figured she must have gotten used to the noises Trip makes in his sleep.

Jon got up and went outside. Even at night it was still warm and he looked up at the night sky. He was surprised that he could see a few stars that showed through in the clearing of the nebula cloud. He wondered if Enterprise was up there somewhere looking for them. He knew that they weren't expecting them back until tomorrow and wouldn't have any need to worry until they didn't show for their rendezvous, unless somehow his transmission had gotten through.

He heard a rustling in the bushes and a small rabbit-like creature hopped out. "What are you? A cross between a rabbit and kangaroo?"

He was startled by a voice behind him. "I called it a rabaroo." Trip bent down and put his hand out. The rabaroo hopped over to him for a scratch on the head.

Jon chuckled. "Made a friend huh?"

"Yeah. I guess so. If this is the most dangerous animal here, we'll be ok until Enterprise rescues us. How long do you think it will take for them to find us?"

Jon thought about it for a moment. "They won't start to get worried until after tomorrow and depending on how long it takes to stumble on our little planet here, few days, a week maybe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It had been two weeks since the crash landing. Each day was the same as the last. Waking up, filling the canteens, and washing up in a nearby stream, eating rations, exploring different paths, taking scans, returning to the shuttle by dark. For Trip, the only highlight of the day was his little rabaroo friend hopping by for a visit.

This particular day turned out to be different for Trip. He had walked for a little over an hour when he stopped dead in his tracks. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." The trees had cleared and he was overlooking a lush green field that ended at the edge of a beach. Beyond the beach was an ocean. "This whole time we've had an ocean in our backyard and didn't even know it? Well ain't that a kick in the pants!"

He looked back towards the direction of the shuttle thinking he should somehow get Jon and T'Pol to let them know what he found. He thought again. "Fuck it! I'm going fish'n"

It was evening as Jon and T'Pol had already reunited at the shuttle and were waiting for Trip. They heard a noise in the bushes and Trip calling. "Start a fire! I have dinner." Trip emerged from the bushes grinning as he held up a string with three large fish, already skinned and gutted.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" Jon asked both amazed and shocked.

"Ocean."

"What?"

"Yeah. There's an ocean out that way." Trip pointed in the direction of the ocean. "And a huge green field. I brought back some of the stuff that grows there. There's flowers and some other stuff...I think it's some kind of grain, like wheat or something."

T'Pol took the foliage from him and scanned it. "You're assessment is correct, it is a type of grain that is equivalent to wheat. The flowers, however, serve no purpose."

"Sure it does." Jon said as he sniffed at them. "We can use them as a sort of deodorant. No offense Trip, but you stink."

"Yeah? Well you don't smell so great yourself ya know."

T'Pol put a hand up that they both knew meant for them to be silent. "None of us smell pleasant at the moment. The Captain is correct. We can use the flowers as a type of fragrance for our unsavory body odors."

After they ate, T'Pol watched as Trip whispered something in Jon's ear. Jon nodded at him. Without a word, Trip took T'Pol by the hand and led her away. He walked her through the green field, picking more of the flowers as they went. Neither one spoke as they walked, they didn't need to speak. When they got to the ocean, they both stripped off their clothes and entered the water, flowers in hand. Trip rubbed the flowers on T'Pol's body and she did so in kind to him. In the water under the night sky, they made love.

Jon had went the opposite way to the stream to clean up and use the flowers to fragrant his body. He had returned and was fast asleep before Trip and T'Pol returned.

It was morning and Jon was still half asleep when he rolled over. His arm went across a body. He didn't know whose body and he was still too much asleep to care. It wasn't until he felt a tugging on his arm when he opened his eyes.

Trip was still asleep when he reached up and pulled Jon's hand to his chest. Somewhere in his sleep he sensed something wasn't quite right. He opened his eyes and saw that T'Pol was cuddled up in front of him and in his haze, he began to wonder whose arm was across him from behind and whose hand was on his chest. He turned his head to look over his shoulder to find Jon looking at him. "Uh...Cap'n? Hello?"

"Hey, I just rolled over. You did the rest."

Trip got a silly grin and rolled over to look at Jon. "Well. If I knew you felt this way about me..."

Jon shoved at Trip. "Get off of me!"

"Me? It was your arm on me."

"Shut up."

"Aw c'mon Cap'n. Don't ya love me no more?" Trip said pretending to be heartbroken.

"Trip. I swear I'm going to deck you." Jon pointed over at T'Pol whose back was to them both and they could see her body was shaking.

"T'Pol? Are...are you..._laughing_?" Trip asked not sure if he was believing what he was asking.

T'Pol took a few seconds before rolling over, looking her emotionless self. "Vulcans do not laugh. I believe you are aware of this by now and therefore your question is completely preposterous."

"Uh-huh. Ok T'Pol. If you say so." Trip said with a note of sarcasm.

They ate their meals of rations, which were getting low. Jon had to force himself to eat as he was getting tired of the ration diet. "I don't know about you two, but I'm getting sick of these damned rations, besides we're going to run out soon. I think now would be a good time to consider foraging for food. T'Pol, as the resident vegan, you can find some edible plants and fruits...Trip and I will hunt game."

They returned to the shuttle, Jon and Trip both full of pride at the game they bagged. It was a small creature, about the size of a two week old piglet. It had a snout like a pig and tusks like a warthog but a long bushy tail and long hairs. They hoped it at least tasted like pig.

They had spotted larger game but didn't want to kill anything that couldn't be consumed before spoiling, as Trip explained to Jon, to allow even a single bite go wasted would be disrespectful to the animal.

They were happy to discover that it did taste like pork, a little salty, but still good. T'Pol had found some fruit, some sweet, some acidic and one that was just down-right disgusting. That one was filed under the '_don't ever pick that again_' category. She had also found a variety of leafy greens that served as a salad.

Satisfied with their meal, Jon and Trip sat outside under the night sky while T'Pol went off for her nightly meditation. "It's been two weeks Cap'n, do you think Enterprise gave up on us?" Trip wondered.

"We can't start thinking like that. I'm sure they're up there looking for us. It's just going to take time, that's all."

"We could travel by shuttle across the nebula, taking time for scans and charting, in three days. As far as we could tell, this is the only planet inside the nebula. Shouldn't they have been here by now?"

Jon had the same concerns but kept them to himself, he had to keep morale up, keep hope alive. "Maybe they started at the edges, circling their way inward. Don't worry Trip, they'll find us soon enough."

Unexpectedly, Trip scooted closer and laid his head on Jon's shoulder. "Two weeks. Too long."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Two months had passed since the crash and tensions have been running high. Not only was the mind numbing day-to-day "_busy work_" tasks getting to them but also the isolation of only the three of them as company, not to mention the tight sleeping space of the shuttle.

Jon and Trip were starting to get on one another's nerves. Most days it was just yelling at each other. Sometimes about something small, other times about nothing at all. T'Pol took it as simply a human need to yell as an outlet for their emotions. It never got physical other than a shove here or there, so she just let them go on without interference.

Her emotions were starting to get the better of her as well. When this happened, she would simply walk off, find a quiet place and meditate. She noticed she had been doing this more frequently in the past few weeks.

She was returning from one of her meditation trips when she heard the yelling. "Just let me use the damned pole, Trip!"

"No! I made this pole, if you wanna go fish'n make your own pole!"

"Why are you being such a dick? Just let me use the fucking pole!"

"Fuck you! Get your own! You ain't gonna lose this one like you did the other!"

"Oh! Here we go! Always throw that in my face! I told you it wasn't my fault! Just give me the goddamn pole!"

"I said no! Get your own!"

"Give me the pole, Trip. That's an order!"

"Fuck off _Cap'n_... In case you ain't notice... You ain't got a starship no more. Screw your orders!"

Jon's face was turning red with anger at that statement. T'Pol saw him ball his hand into a fist and feared what might happen next. She quickly got between the two men, holding a hand up at Jon. "Both of you stop this nonsense right now. Trip, let the Captain use the fishing pole."

"Yeah Trip!" Jon said childishly. T'Pol shot him a look, much the same as a mother silently scolding her child. Jon snapped his mouth shut.

"He lost the last one, I'm not-" Trip snapped his mouth shut when T'Pol shot him the same look.

"If the Captain promises to make a new pole, should he lose this one, will you let him use it?"

Trip began to realize how childish he had been acting and was a little embarrassed by it. "Yeah. Fine. He can use the pole. Sorry I was acting like a jerk."

"Thank you. I was acting a bit immature myself. I'm sorry. Maybe when I get back later, you can show me how to make my own pole?"

Trip grinned at him. "Oh sure! No problem. It's really not that hard. The hardest part is making the hook just right, but you'll see it's really not as hard as you think once you get the hang of it."

Jon set off to go fishing, leaving Trip and T'Pol behind. "I really don't know why the two of you feel the need to argue so much lately. It's not healthy."

"I don't know T'Pol. I guess for humans, living in such tight quarters and no reprieve from one another, tempers tend to flare. I really didn't mean to act that way and I know he didn't mean it either. I don't know."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow at him. Without warning she jumped at him, knocking him to the ground and kissing him passionately. "T'Pol? What are you doing?"

"Shut up." She said as she straddled him, pinning his arms above his head with her hands and was kissing him again. Trip freed his arms from her and began returning her passion as she clawed at his clothes to remove them.

Before he knew it, they both had their clothes off, rolling one another on the ground for position.

Her breath heavy in his ear. "Fuck me. Fuck me now!" Trip was shocked. She had never spoken to him like that before. She had never acted this way before. This was not the T'Pol he knew. This was not the T'Pol he loved.

He stopped his passion and looked at her. "T'Pol? Are you alright? What's going on with you?"

"I need you Trip. I need you now."

"Are...are you in Pon Farr?"

"No. If I were in my Pon Farr you wouldn't need to question it. I just feel an overwhelming desire for you at the moment. We're alone, Jon won't be back for several hours, and we haven't made love in over a month. Need I explain further?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

There she was. There was his T'Pol. "Uh...no. I guess not."

"So are you going to fuck me or not?"

Trip shrugged his shoulders. "Uh...Alright then." And fucked her he did.

Trip and T'Pol started the fire in anticipation of Jon bringing back some fish to cook. He did not disappoint. He had already skinned and gutted the fish. Jon and Trip made it a habit that whatever game they got, they cleaned it somewhere away from camp. T'Pol had gotten accustomed to seeing meat while on Enterprise, but only after it had been cooked and neatly displayed on a plate. She had never seen meat in its raw form before now, and Jon and Trip felt that she didn't need to witness the gory details of the cleaning and butchering process.

Jon had a lot of time to think while he was fishing and decided now would be a good time to talk to them about his thoughts. "I believe it's time we build a larger, more permanent shelter. We need more space."

Trip sat with his mouth gaping open. "Cap'n? Are you say'n you believe Enterprise ain't come'n for us?"

"I'm still holding out hope, but let's face it. It's been two months. Either they couldn't bring Enterprise into the nebula without causing serious damage, or they never found the planet. Chances are they've moved on by now. We need to start thinking long term here."

T'Pol raised her brow. "You're conclusion is logical. We do need to begin thinking about the possibility that we will not be rescued. What do you have in mind?"

"Hold on here!" Trip still in shock at what he was hearing. "I can't believe the two of you are just ready to roll over and give up! Enterprise will come. If not Enterprise, another Starfleet ship. Yeah. I bet that's it. Enterprise tried to come for us and sucked up too much dust particles. Starfleet is sending another ship that will be able to make it through the nebula. A Vulcan ship maybe."

"The Vulcan high command would find it illogical to send a ship for three people." T'Pol said factually.

"Ok. Andorian then. Whatever, doesn't matter. Point is Starfleet can't just write us off that quickly. Can they?"

"I'm not saying they wrote us off, Trip." Jon trying to ease Trip's tension. "I'm just saying we can't keep living like this. We need more space. We need to find out more about this area. We need to accept that it may be several more months, maybe a year before they get us off this rock. In the meantime, we need to do something that will keep us from going insane and make life more tolerable for us here."

Trip huffed. He didn't like what he was hearing. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Just give me a sec, ok?" After a moment he looked up. "What's the plan Cap'n?"

"T'Pol and one of us stay here and start building a shelter, the other goes off for a period to explore. Catalog anything that is found that might be useful, bringing it back if possible."

"Who stays and who goes?"

"I don't know. Flip for it?"

Trip rolled his eyes. "You gotta coin?"

Jon suddenly had an idea. He picked up a stone and a piece of a stick. "The rock is explore and the stick is shelter." And handed them to T'Pol.

She looked at the objects with curiosity. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Trip took the stick and rock from her and showed her what to do, explaining that it was important that neither him nor Jon know which hand contained which item, then gave them back to her. After doing what Trip showed her, Jon told Trip he should pick. Trip tapped one of her hands. When she opened it, it reviled the rock.

Trip and Jon were looking up at the night sky. The fire was starting to die out, they had been sitting in silence for quite some time. It had been decided that Trip would set out in the morning for his three month exploration. One and a half month out, one and a half month back. No one was feeling too good about it, but all agreed it was necessary...logical. It was the only way to discover what was beyond their own backyard. It was also decided that the permanent structure be built in the clearing near the ocean.

Trip's rabaroo friend hopped by for its daily visit. The little rabaroo had become a sort of pet for Trip, he even named him "_Bugs_" after the cartoon. Bugs had gotten to the point that he allowed Trip to hold him.

At some point, Trip had taken a piece of his uniform and tied it at the base of one of Bugs' ear to show that Bugs was his. It wasn't tight enough to harm Bugs, but loose enough that should it get snagged, he could easily slip out, and Bugs didn't seem to mind having a piece of cloth around his ear. Trip looked at Jon with a strange determination. "I'm making a law."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"No kill'n or eat'n rabaroos. By penalty of death." And gave a single hard nod of his head.

Jon chuckled. "Ok Trip. No killing or eating rabaroos. You know...now that I've had more time to think about this, maybe it would be better if you stayed and I go exploring. You're the engineer, you'd be better at building the structure."

"Naw. We picked fair and square. It's my lot that I go. Besides, you'll be fine building the structure. T'Pol will be here to help. She won't let you screw it up. Just take care of her for me, ok? I don't know if you've noticed but she's having a hard time keeping her emotions in check."

"Yeah. I kind of noticed that."

"If she gets too bad, just gently remind her to meditate. If she tries to argue with you, just let her know that it's what I would want her to do. If she's still stubborn about it, and believe me she can be stubborn when she wants to be, just tell her...well...this is gonna sound strange but...tell her to seek me out. She'll know what it means."

Jon crinkled his eyebrows. "You're right, that does sound strange. What do you mean by that?"

"It's a Vulcan thing. Don't worry about it. Just tell her, ok?"

"Ok Trip. Anything else?"

"Yeah. Take care of Bugs for me."

"Sure Trip. Sure. I'll make sure he knows where we're moving to."

"Oh yeah. If a rescue party does come, _promise_ you won't leave without me."

"Are you kidding? I've already talked to Malcolm, he's coming an hour after you leave here. This was the plan all along to ditch you." Jon grinned widely.

Trip gave a half-hearted chuckle. He knew Jon was joking, but somehow the mood seemed too somber to really laugh at the joke, but gave an attempt at a poke of his own. "And don't lose my fish'n pole."

Jon shook his head. "Never going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

Late in the night, Trip gently woke T'Pol putting his finger to his lips to indicate she be quite. He took her hand and led her away from the shuttle. He gazed deeply in her eyes, drowning himself in the dark pools of them. "You know that I love you more than life itself, don't you?"

"Yes. I am very aware of your affection..." She dropped her head and thought for a moment. When she lifted her head back up to look into Trip's eyes, her demeanor seemed different. "I believe this is a time to be less Vulcan-like and more human-like. Trip, I love you with all of my heart. I don't want you to go, but I know that you must. There will be a hole in me that won't be filled until you return. Every day you're out there, just know I will be thinking of you and loving you more than the day before, my T'hy'la."

Without thinking about it or hesitation, Trip held up his hand, index and middle fingers extended. He knew what this gesture meant, what it signified. T'Pol touched his fingers with hers. She was surprised when Trip said "k'hat'n'dlawa, t'nash-veh ashaya." [_Translation: half of each other's heart and soul, my love._] He kissed her deeply and they made love as if they would never make love to each other again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Jon and T'Pol had dismantled the shuttle to use as temporary walls while building their permanent structure. At the moment it was only a single room shack, but Jon had a vision. He wanted a common area, a bedroom for himself and a bedroom for T'Pol and Trip. He was determined to have at least one bedroom built by the time Trip came back and his determination drove him.

He had fashioned an axe to chop at the wood. It was hard work, he wasn't accustomed to this sort of manual labor, but he kept reminding himself that the people of Earth did this sort of thing for centuries before the invention of power tools. He set in his mind that if his ancestors could do it, so could he. What he wouldn't give for a plasma cutter right now...hell, a chainsaw even.

He was proud at how much he and T'Pol had accomplished in such a short time. It had been a little over five weeks and already had two walls complete and were working on the third. He had to continuously remind himself of the Vulcan strength and that T'Pol, despite her pettiness, was more than capable of helping him hoist the logs into place.

On this particular day they were hoisting a large log up, with the assistance of a pulley rigging, he felt the makeshift ropes fall from him as he heard a blood-curdling scream come from T'Pol. He turned to see her limp body hit the ground. Rushing to her aid, seeing that she was on the ground convulsing. "T'Pol! T'Pol! What's wrong? T'Pol!" She wasn't responding and Jon scooped her up and took her into the shack, gently laying her down. He didn't know what was happening or what to do. He was terrified. "T'Pol? Can you hear me? T'Pol?"

After a moment the convulsions stopped. Without warning she sat straight up screaming "Trip! T'hy'la! Trip! Trip! T'hy'la!" She reached for Jon pulling him to her hugging him so tight he thought she would crush him.

He could feel her shaking and heard a soft sob. Quietly he asked. "T'Pol? What's wrong? What's going on?"

"I-I can't f-feel him. He-he's gone. G-gone." Jon didn't know what she meant by that and held her as she sobbed.

When the sobbing stopped, Jon asked her. "What do you mean you can't feel him, what does that mean? T'Pol, what's happening to you? What can I do to help you?" T'Pol didn't say a word, simply sat staring blankly as tears ran down her face. She sat like this for two days. She didn't sleep, didn't eat, and didn't speak. She simply sat staring blankly. Half of her heart, half of her soul was gone.

Jon had visibly jumped when T'Pol finally did speak. "Trip is dead."

"What? No T'Pol. How could you say a thing like that? He left to go exploring, remember? In six weeks he'll be back."

T'Pol shook her head. "No. He won't be back. He died two days ago. I felt it. He's been ripped from my soul. He's dead."

"What makes you say that? What do you mean you felt it? I don't understand."

T'Pol tried to explain it in a way that Jon could understand. "Trip and I have been bonded. We've bonded some time ago. Long before coming here. A telepathic bond. Trip called it "being in each other's heads" Vulcans call it "tel-tor". Something happened to him, I don't know what, but the bond has been broken. That only happens when one's t'hy'la life has ended."

Jon finally understood what Trip meant. "Before Trip left, he told me to remind you to meditate, to seek him out. Is this...tel-tor? ...is this what he meant by that? That the two of you are psychically linked together?"

"We were. Until two days ago."

"Oh T'Pol." Jon whispered and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. To comfort himself. To comfort them both.

Trip had been walking for five weeks and had found some interesting things. Some fruits and vegetation that didn't grow near their camp site. He collected seeds from them to take back. He had also found two plants that interested him a lot.

One of the plants, which served no real purpose, had purple leaves and the properties of a plant that grew on Earth, which Trip enjoyed in his youth. It was the equivalent of tobacco. He took seeds from this plant to bring back and took leaves to have on hand for immediate use. The other plant that_ really_ got his attention had pink leaves and medical purposes. This plant however, had an interesting side effect when its smoke was inhaled. Another plant from his youth that he enjoyed very much. He was definitely taking seeds of this plant back. _If we're gonna be stuck here, may as well have some sort of fun_. He thought.

Trip had rounded a corner of the side of a cliff face when he was face-to-face with a large bear-like creature. The creature stood up on its hind legs at Trip's presence and gave a loud roar. Trip was frozen in fear. The creature stood almost ten feet tall, with long sharp claws and huge fangs. Trip grabbed for his pistol, but before he could raise it the animal swiped at him.

Trip screamed in agony as its claws slashed through his flesh on the side of his torso. Trip went down in pain. The creature came down on Trip with a stomp to his chest. He could feel the animal's fangs biting into his arm. Trip fired off several rounds from his pistol into it. The animal roared in pain, then slumped onto Trip. He somehow got himself free from under it. Holding his side, he knew he was losing a lot of blood fast. His chest felt like it had been crushed and his arm was numb. Trip laid there, gasping for any bit of air, unable to move. His own voice seemed distant. He was getting weak. "Help... Somebody... please help me... T'hy'la... T'...hy..."

Jon had been walking for three weeks. He didn't want to leave T'Pol by herself, but she had convinced him that she would be fine and wanted him to find Trip, find out what happened to him. Jon had come across Trip's trail markers and knew which way to go. He walked quickly, sometimes running as he knew that Trip would most likely had been going at a slower pace to survey the area. If he was going to find Trip, this would be the way to do it.

Jon rounded a corner of a cliff and froze in his tracks when he saw the grizzly scene. There was a lot of dried blood that was splattered on the rocks, trees and ground. He took out his scanner. His scans showed it was a mix of animal and human blood and he started yelling. "Trip! Trip! Where are you? Trip!" He looked around the area. There had been a struggle. Broken branches, drag marks, and a patch where something big had once laid for a period of time. Then he saw it. A torn piece of cloth with the Starfleet Enterprise patch still attached, covered in dried blood.

He knelt down and picked it up. Holding it in his hand, looking around the area, in his heart, even though his mind wasn't ready to believe it, he knew what had happened here. Trip, his chief engineer, his best friend, had been attacked, killed and dragged off by an animal. He sat for some time crying, grieving at the loss of his friend. Angry at himself for suggesting this venture. Hate for this planet. Denial his friend was gone. Hope that his assumptions were wrong. Finally acceptance of the facts in front of him.

He wanted to get back to the green field, back to the ocean, back to T'Pol as quickly as he could. He had kept his scanner open for the entire journey and tapped a couple of buttons. It showed him a map of where he was and where he had been. He found a different route that would get him back...dare he think?...home?...in less than two weeks.

Jon and T'Pol held a memorial service for Trip and buried the patch of cloth near the almost completed house. Just as Jon had finished covering the cloth with the dirt, Bugs hopped by and stopped, looking up at Jon. "Sorry Bugs. Trip won't be back." He gave Bugs a scratch on the head. Bugs wiggled his nose at the freshly placed dirt and laid down next to it. He stayed there until morning.

Three weeks had passed and all four walls, the pitched roof and T'Pol's bedroom complete. Jon had decided his bedroom could wait, he would sleep in the common area, as he turned his attention to crafting furniture and other useful tools to help the pair survive.

He had been woken in the middle of the night by a loud noise that caused him to panic for a moment before he realized it was only thunder. A storm had moved in and he heard another loud boom of thunder, then T'Pol screaming from her bedroom. He went into the room and found T'Pol sitting up in her bed holding her hands to her ears and rocking herself. Another loud boom, another scream. He sat on the bed and held her. "Hey. It's just a thunderstorm. It's ok. Shhhh." She was trembling against him, holding her ears as the storm continued.

In the morning the storm had passed. Jon woke and was still in T'Pol's bed holding her. He felt his body, his hardness pressing against her. He couldn't help his hardness as it was something that happened to all men first thing in the morning. She pressed closer to him, rubbing her body against him and his hardness changed from the morning problem to the problem of being teased. He rubbed his hand against her hip, pulling her closer to him, wishing there wasn't any clothes between them. Suddenly a flash of Trip came to his thoughts and he quickly left her bed, stumbling outside.

When he came back into the house, T'Pol had put out some fruit on the table for breakfast. "Where did you go?" She asked as she pulled the pot of hot water off of the small wood burning stove that Jon had crafted from the shuttle's paneling.

"Had to piss." He grunted at her. That was only a half truth. He did relieve himself while he was out there, he just didn't tell her the other way he had relieved himself. As he watched her pour the water to make their tea from the leaves of a plant they found, he wondered if her rubbing against him was deliberate or if she was just thinking of Trip in her half sleep daze. He decided it was best not to speak of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It had been almost eight months since the crash. Trip dead, T'Pol and Jon doing the best they could to survive. Jon still hadn't built that bedroom for himself, instead concentrating on building a grain shed, a small smokehouse to preserve the game meat he hunted and a vegetable garden.

As he worked at chopping wood, T'Pol came out of the house and was looking at him strangely. She had been meditating more and more over the past few days, and the past few weeks she had been more agitated and unable to suppress her emotions. He was becoming worried that she might be losing her mind. She turned in a huff and went back into the house. Jon decided he would speak to her to get to the bottom of her odd behavior. As he walked in the house, without warning, she grabbed at him, shoving him against the wall and began kissing him passionately. "T'Pol! What are you doing?"

"Don't deny me! I need you." She said breathless as she pulled on his clothes made from animal skins.

He tried to push her back. "T'Pol. This isn't like you. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I need you. I need a mate. I need a t'hy'la. Don't deny me or would you rather I die?" She continued pulling at him as he struggled to stop her aggressive advancements.

"Die? T'Pol, what are you tal-" She had her mouth on his kissing him hard. She slipped her hand down the front of his pants and wrapped her fingers around him, stroking at him to obtain an erection. He tried pushing her away, but the more she stroked him, the more she kissed him, he began to lose his reason to resist. Giving in to her advancement, he returned her passion.

She shoved him again hard into the wall, pulling at his clothes, as he pulled at hers. She grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him hard to the floor, straddling him. He let out a cry of pain as her teeth sank into his shoulder. He placed his hands on her, pushing her back. "T'Pol! What the fuck has gotten into you?" She was acting like a caged wild animal. Jon had never seen her like this and it frightened him.

Somewhere in her crazed mind she realized what she was doing, and that Jon didn't know or understand. She tried to compose herself, but failed. "My...my Pon Farr. I need...need to...to mate. Pon Farr...my Pon Farr."

Suddenly everything that had happened in the past few weeks, possibly months, clicked in Jon's mind. Her meditating more. Her inability to suppress her emotions. Her aggressiveness. It was all the onset of Pon Farr. He knew what he had to do to help her. He was the only one now that could. "Ok T'Pol. I'll help you but, don't bite me anymore. That hurt."

It had been three weeks since T'Pol's Pon Farr and she was acting normal again. Neither of them had spoken about it, going on as if nothing had happened. Jon had been feeling a little guilty that he had somehow disgraced Trip's memory. He knew T'Pol was still grieving his loss, and he was still grieving in his own way as well.

He looked out across the field and saw something in the distance moving towards the house. Some months ago, the pair had altered the signaling devices from the shuttle and placed them around the area. They had found bear-like creatures that were coming dangerously close to their home. Altering the devices to emit a high pitched sound, which neither he or T'Pol could hear, kept them away. T'Pol had named the creatures '_sehlat_'. Jon had seen a sehlat when he was on Vulcan and these creatures didn't look anything like those on Vulcan. T'Pol explained to him that the word sehlat could also be loosely interpreted as "bear-like animal", so sehlat it was.

He was now concerned that either one or more of the devices had quit working, or that the sehlat were becoming immune to the frequency. He called to the house. "T'Pol! Bring my pistol." As an afterthought he added "And the binoculars." T'Pol came out with the items he requested, handing them to him. She looked in the direction he was looking and could see the creature. It was smaller than the sehlats they had seen before and wasn't moving like an animal. It appeared to be dragging something behind it.

Suddenly the...whatever it was...seemed to be waving at them as it dropped its bundle it had been dragging and began running towards them. T'Pol grabbed the binoculars from Jon's hand and looked through them. "No! It can't be. It can't." T'Pol pulled the binoculars away from her eyes and shoved them back to Jon. "Impossible!" She ran towards the figure. Jon watched through the binoculars as T'Pol met the figure halfway, and collapsed into its arms, embracing each other. The two walked back to retrieve the bundle, that Jon could now see through the binoculars. A makeshift sled loaded with what-nots. By some miracle, Trip was alive and had come home.

Jon had put a pot of water on the stove and was just pouring the tea when T'Pol and Trip entered, arms wrapped around each other. Without a word, he handed a mug of tea to Trip.

Trip didn't look like Trip anymore. He was wearing the furs of what seemed to be from a sehlat. His hair was just past his shoulders, his face looked thinner and he had a full, unkempt beard. Trip eyed the mug for a second then took a drink. "What? No coffee?"

"Don't say that word Trip." Jon replied. "Damn I miss coffee! I mean I_ really_ miss coffee."

"Nice place you have here. You two sure have been busy."

Jon eyed Trip for a moment, so many questions, he wasn't sure where to start. "You were supposed to be gone three months. I went looking for you. I found..." He stopped at the memory of what he had found. "What happened?"

Trip sat down at the table and began his tale of the adventure he'd had. "Yeah. I know what you found. This animal attacked me. Damn thing was like a huge bear."

"Sehlat." T'Pol said coolly.

"What?"

"We named the animal you speak of as sehlat."

"Oh. Ok then. So this..._sehlat_ attacked me. I damned near died. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get to my med kit and closed up the wound." Trip lifted his shirt to show them the nasty huge scars left behind. "I laid there for several days while healing and getting my strength back. Once I started out again to come back here, I don't know, I guess I got twisted up and lost my path. I walked around trying to find my way. Finally I made it to the ocean and just stayed on the ocean's edge knowing that it would lead me back here. I started to think I was walking in the wrong direction, but I began seeing landmarks that I recognized and kept walking. How did the two of you get so much of this place built up so fast?"

"After we thought that you were...well, we just stayed close to here building this place up. What happened to the sehlat?"

"Killed it. Ate it. Wearing its skin."

"Ate it all? Bullshit."

"Not all, yet. Dried the meat. Kinda like jerky. Still have some. That's what I've been living on. And some fruits and berries I found. Brought back seeds."

Are you hungry?" T'Pol asked.

"Starving!" Trip announced.

T'Pol cooked some meat and vegetables for him, setting the plate in front of Trip she had her own questions. "I felt you...leave me. How is it possible that our bond has been broken? As far as I know, that only happens in death."

Trip had been shoving the food in his mouth, he was hungrier than he realized and spoke with a mouthful of food. "Well...I think I might have died for a few seconds. I don't know how I survived other than I had a need, a drive to come back here. Come back to my t'hy'la. I searched for you at night, in my dreams, but I couldn't find you. Now I know why. Huh. You know, now that I think about it, I was never too fond of the thought of having you in my head, but now that you're not...I feel like a part of me is missing. Damn T'Pol! This meat is great! I'm surprised you can cook meat so well. And where did you get bread from? And why does it look a little green? And how's Bugs? Did he miss me? And how long-"

Jon put his hands up chuckling. "Whoa Trip, easy. Yes, T'Pol has turned into a pretty good cook, thankfully. Her first few attempts at cooking meat didn't turn out too well, but she's become much better at it."

"With Jon's help." T'Pol added and they tipped their heads at each other.

Jon continued. "We learned how to process the grain into flour, and the whole grain also takes the place of rice. Doesn't exactly tastes like rice, but makes a good side dish and its filling. The green tint? I think it has something to do with the grain. Everything we use it for has a green tint to it. Bugs? He...or should I say..._she's_ doing fine. She brings her litter around each day for some veggies and head scratching. In fact she should be around in a few hours, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. We uh...had a memorial service for you. She laid the entire night at the spot where we buried the piece of cloth from your uniform I found. Every day she comes by, she goes to that spot. So yeah. I'd say she missed you. We all missed you."

Trip got a tear in his eye. "I missed y'all too. What did ya say at my memorial?"

"You know what? That's not important. I know what you really need right now." Jon got up and pulled back a curtain made of animal hide.

Trip's jaw dropped and his eyes got wide. "Is that...a _bathtub_? A real bathtub?"

"Yep!" Jon said grinning with pride. "Made it myself. It's watertight too. I'll get the hot water while you get ready for a bath." Jon said as he went outside.

Trip looked at T'Pol confused. "Hot water?"

"Did you see the large cauldron over the fire outside?"

"Yeah. I wondered about that."

"We keep water hot for bathing and washing clothes. It's a long way to the fresh water source and haul back, that water is for consuming. The water in the cauldron is from the ocean."

"Well. The two of you sure have made a home for yourselves. Anything else I need to know?"

As they talked, Jon had come back in with a bucket of hot water and poured it into the tub. As he started back out for another, he heard Trip's question and gave a look at T'Pol. T'Pol shook her head. "No. Not at the moment. We will talk more after your bath.

Jon was in the grain shed drinking from a ceramic bottle T'Pol had made when Trip came in, bathed and freshly shaved. "Well! You look human again." Jon said, then sniffed at the air. "Smell better too."

Trip flopped down on a pile of the grain grass next to Jon. "Hey! I washed up and used flowers whenever I could. But I do have to admit, having soap...real soap is great! And T'Pol is a wiz at using a knife to shave me."

"Yeah. We learned how to make soap and use flowers to scent it and she got a lot of practice with that knife on me."

"Yeah. T'Pol told me. And having a hot bath, well, let's just say it's a hell of a lot better than those cold streams and ocean water."

"She didn't cut your hair?"

"Naw. I told her not to. I think I'm gonna let it grow out."

"For how long?"

"I don't know. Until I get tired of it or die. Whichever comes first."

"Well, here's to long life and long hair." Jon raised the bottle and drank from it then gave it to Trip.

Trip took a big drink and started gagging. "Oh my God! This is disgusting! What the hell is this?"

"I don't know. It's green. You get used to the taste after a while." Jon took another drink.

"How long does it take to get used to it?"

"I'll let you know when it happens." They both laughed at that as Trip took another swig.

Trip looked up at the still Jon had made. "Well, one thing, your coil is wrapped too tight, and your fire is too hot. Let me do some tweaking on it and see if we can't get this...alcohol smoothed out."

"Did they teach you still building in engineering school?"

"Oh yeah. Engineering 101." Trip grinned.

"Trip, there's something I think I should tell you. Something that happened."

Trip put his hand up. "T'Pol already told me. I know what happened."

"You going to kick my ass?"

"It was a knee-jerk reaction, but then T'Pol told me it was her Pon Farr. I guess you had to help her. You did the right thing. I'm just sorry I wasn't here. I'm sorry you were put in that position."

"I want you to know, I never touched her before that day and I haven't touched her since."

"I know. It's ok. We're ok. Let's not talk about it anymore."

"Ok. To change the subject, I have a question. You said you patched yourself up, basically performing surgery on yourself. Without painkillers? How did you endure that?"

"Oh. I had a painkiller." Trip grinned and pulled out a cigarette-like item, wrapped in a purple leaf with a pink interior, from a pocket.

"Trip? What is that?"

"A plant I found. It has medical uses but uh... Well, I think you know the rest."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Trip, you know Starfleet frowns on that."

"Do you see Starfleet around anywhere?"

Jon took it from Trip's hand and thought about it for a moment. "Guess I can't argue with that logic." He said as he got a piece of stick and caught a bit of fire on the end.

It had been a year to the day since the crash. Trip had helped to finish Jon's bedroom, and doing his fair share of the chores. T'Pol and Trip were able to reinitiate their mate bond, this time deliberately and he found comfort having her in his head again. Life was going pretty good between the three.

T'Pol had been getting sick for the past week. Jon and Trip were concerned about this. She had ran out of the house to vomit and Trip got the medical scanner. When she came back in, Jon and Trip had her sit in a chair. "Do you think something she's eaten isn't agreeing with her?" Jon asked with worry.

"Naw. She's been eating the same foods for a year now. If it was that, she woulda got sick long before now. I'll bet a week's worth of chopping wood..."

Trip had finished his scan and checked the reading. Grinning he said. "Yes! I knew it!" He handed the scanner to Jon and got down on his knees in front of T'Pol, grinning widely "You're pregnant, love. Oh my darling! We're going to have a baby!" He suddenly had a thought that erased the grin from him. "Uh, Jon? How long did you say it was between T'Pol's Pon Farr and the time I got back?"

Jon was stunned. "Th-three weeks."

Trip dropped his head. "It's very possible that you're the father."

"No Trip. You're this baby's father. You and T'Pol, for all intense purposes, are married. It doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, you're the father."

"But there is a chance. If it is yours, I can't take that away from you. As soon as the baby is born we'll run a genetic test. If it is yours...so be it. I won't let you deny yourself of that."

"Trip, what happened with me and T'Pol was a onetime thing. The chances of me being the father are slim. You're the father. That's all there is to it."

"Jon. I ca-"

T'Pol held up her hand. "You're both the fathers."

Jon and Trip looked at each other in confusion. Trip shook his head. "T'Pol, I know I'm not a doctor, but I did at least take basic biology. I don't think it works that way."

T'Pol raised her eyebrow at them. "As is our circumstances, you both will have a hand in raising this child. This child won't know the dynamics of a traditional family unit as it is on Earth or Vulcan. As far as this child will know, you're both its fathers. When he or she is old enough to understand, we'll explain it to him or her."

Jon and Trip looked at each other again, then back to T'Pol and in unison said. "Huh?" This was going to be a long discussion.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_Tradition is that the person in command, regardless of rank, is addressed as 'Captain'_

**Chapter 6**

_**Time moves at its own pace...**_

It had been three days and the shuttle pod was six hours past due for their rendezvous. Malcolm was very worried. "Hoshi. Anything?" He asked.

Hoshi shook her head. "No sir. I'm not getting any response."

Malcolm turned to the science station. "Anything on sensors, Lieutenant LaVey?"

"No, Captain. I'm not picking up the shuttle. They're not out there."

Malcolm considered this for a moment then nodded his head. "Travis, prepare to enter the nebula. Hoshi, send a message to Starfleet Command, let them know what's happened and that we're going in. We'll be out of contact for a few days. LaVey, coordinate with engineering, we may have problems with particles in the intakes, if Commander Tucker's assessment is correct."

"Aye sir." They all replied.

Malcolm gave a moment for Hoshi to send her message then ordered Travis to enter the nebula.

Enterprise had spent the next two days performing the standard grid pattern search when they found a small planet in the middle of the nebula. "LaVey, scan for life signs." Malcolm ordered.

LaVey ran his scan and looked a little confused. "Captain, I'm picking up life signs, two humans, one Vulcan. There's also something odd...very odd."

"Odd? What do you mean odd?"

"I'm not sure, sir. I'll have to take some more readings and research this, it might take a little while."

"Ok LaVey. Report as soon as you have it figured out." Malcolm stated. At the moment he was wishing he had a Vulcan at the science station. _A Vulcan wouldn't give a half report and would have this "oddity" figured out in seconds._ He thought. "Travis, bring us into orbit." He continued.

As Travis started bringing the ship into orbit, Enterprise lurched and all hell began breaking loose. "We're losing power!" Travis called out. "There's something around the planet's exosphere! We can't get close without serious damage, sir."

"Bring us about, Travis. Get us to a safe distance."

As Travis got Enterprise to a safe distance, Malcolm tapped a button on the Captain's chair control panel. "Engineering, report."

Kelby's voice came through the comm speaker. "We lost thirty percent power, sir. I don't know what happened. It just drained out...well disappeared is more like it. I can't explain it."

"Damage?" Malcolm inquired.

"Minimal sir. We just need to top off our plasma cells and we'll be back to a hundred percent. Commander Tucker isn't going to like having to explain to Starfleet why thirty percent of our plasma supply mysteriously went missing. Probably have my head for it."

Malcolm gave a light chuckle imaging the current look on Kelby's face. "I was in command at the time Commander, I'll take care of Trip. Just get our gas tanks topped off and report to me when you have it figured out. Bridge out."

Malcolm turned his attention to Hoshi. "Hoshi, hail them."

"I've been trying, sir. There's too much interference. I'm not getting a signal through."

"Should we send a shuttle down?" Travis asked as a suggestion.

Malcolm thought about the situation for a moment. "No. Not at the moment. I want to find out what's causing all this interference and why thirty percent of our plasma drained before we risk a shuttle, and possibly more people being trapped on the planet. One way or another, we'll get them back."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Trip was on the floor wearing his sehlat skin and creeping around on all fours. The little boy peered around the corner of a piece of furniture as Trip jumped and roared at him.

The boy let out a joyful shriek and ran giggling. Unfortunately, he ran directly into Jon, also wearing sehlat skins, as Jon grabbed the boy and hoisted him high in the air. "Ah-ha! Got you!" Jon grinned at him. The boy continued shrieking and giggling. Trip joined in the fun of teasing the boy. "We're gonna eat you up, Charlie!" And roared again.

T'Pol was setting plates of food on the table and gave a small smile watching the fathers' game with their son. "Boys. Dinner is ready. Time to get cleaned up now." Trip and Jon noticed that T'Pol was acting a little less Vulcan and more human as the time went on. Even though she meditated and made efforts to suppress her emotions, having only human companions, the emotions that were always close to the surface came out more and more.

As they ate their meal Trip made the obvious comment. "You know, it's been almost five years. We haven't even named this planet."

"Did you have something in mind?" Jon asked eyeing Trip. Jon knew that Trip wouldn't have made a statement like that unless there was a reason.

"I was thinking Celestia."

Jon and T'Pol looked at each other. "Celestia? Why Celestia?" Jon wondered.

"It's in the middle of a nebula, a celestial body of space, so... Celestia."

Jon and T'Pol considered this a moment and nodded to each other. "Celestia it is then." Jon agreed.

After dinner, they played their games with Charlie before settling to bed. Jon had been tossing and turning trying to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about what Trip had said at dinner. The words "_five years_" ran through his mind. Five years on the planet. Five years of chopping wood. Five years of threshing grain. Five years of hunting and foraging. Four years since... Four years. As he laid there he heard noises coming from Trip and T'Pol's room. He knew what the noises were. Four years... Four years. He laid listening for a while. Four years. He couldn't take listening any longer. He jerked the blanket from him and walked out into the night.

In the morning Trip and T'Pol searched the area around the house looking for Jon. Trip noticed that his bow and arrows were missing. "Guess he got up early and went hunt'n."

"Why would he go hunting without you? He knows the rule. He made the rule. No hunting alone." T'Pol sounded concerned.

"I don't know. Maybe he's staying within the frequency lines. He wouldn't go beyond the line and risk running into a sehlat by himself. I'm sure he'll be back soon. We're just worrying for nothing. You'll see." Trip wasn't sure if he was trying to convince T'Pol or himself.

Jon hadn't come home that evening and Trip promised T'Pol he'd go looking for him in the morning. When morning came they woke to a shocking surprise. On the table were two freshly skinned and gutted shoats, the name they gave to the pig-like animals. Trip took the shoats to the smokehouse to preserve. After looking around the homestead without finding Jon, he set out to look for him. This went on for three days. Finding fresh kill on the table but no sign of Jon. Each day Trip would search, returning at night. He knew Jon had to be close and he didn't want to leave T'Pol and Charlie alone at night.

The fourth day of his search he spotted a human footprint. As he bent down to get a closer look, he heard the air above him cutting and a wooden "thunk" sound. He looked up and saw an arrow sticking out of the tree trunk where his head had been a split second before. "Jon! Hey!"

Jon's head popped up from behind a bush, his eyes wide. "Trip? Oh my God! I thought you were an animal. What are you doing out here?"

"Look'n for you. What the hell, man? Where have ya been? Why are ya out here by yourself? How come ya haven't been home? Do ya know how worried we've been?"

"I've been hunting."

"Obviously. You know the rule. What are ya thinking? Do you really want to get attacked by a sehlat? It's no fun...trust me."

"I've been staying inside the line. I just wanted to get some hunting in for the food stock."

"We have enough in the smokehouse. You know that. What's really going on?" Trip could see that something was bothering Jon. He sat down on a log and gestured to Jon to sit.

Jon sat, but wasn't exactly in a talking mood. "I just wanted to get the storage built up so we didn't have to go hunting for a while, that's all."

"Cut the bullshit Jon. What's really the problem? Are you and T'Pol arguing again?"

"No. We're not arguing."

"Is it me then? Did I do something to upset ya?"

"No."

"What's going on then?"

"Like I said, I wanted to get our food supply up."

Trip narrowed his eyes at him. "Jon. I'm not buying it. Just tell me what's bothering you. Something is wrong. Why else would you leave so sudden and stay away like this?"

Jon looked at the ground for a moment. He was uncomfortable with this topic. He really didn't want to discuss it, especially with Trip. He could see that Trip wasn't going to let him get away with flimsy excuses or let it drop, so he gave in. "I can't go back. I can't stay in that house anymore. I have to leave. I have to be by myself. Just let me do this, ok? I'll hunt for you guys, but just let me stay away. It's for the best, trust me on this. It's for the best."

"No, it's not ok. Best for who? Jon, you can't stay out here on your own. We need each other to survive. Just talk to me, tell me what's wrong. Let's try to work this out. Let me try to help you fix it."

Jon shuffled his feet in the dirt. "You can't fix this. No one can fix this."

"What Jon? What's going on?" Trip looked at him, giving him as much compassion as he could. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. We'll figure this out. Whatever the problem is, we'll figure it out."

Jon shook his head and let out a hard breath. "If I stay, I'm afraid...afraid I'll fuck up. I'll fuck everything up. I just can't stay. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"No we can't leave it at that. What will you fuck up? Are you blaming yourself for us crashing here? That wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault."

"I know." Jon looked at the ground. When he looked up again he had tears in his eyes. "Trip, if I stay, I might do something...something bad. Something that will cause problems between us, between you and T'Pol. I don't want to be the cause of any issues."

The realization of what Jon was trying to say hit Trip. "Oh. I see. You're worried you might make a play for T'Pol. Yeah. I can understand that I guess. Tell ya what. Let's go home, get ya some'n to eat and..." Trip sniffed at Jon "get ya a bath and clean clothes. After that, we can talk about this. If you still feel like ya need to go, we can make a plan. M'kay?" Jon was reluctant, but agreed to go back with Trip. A meal and hot bath did sound good at the moment.

Jon ate his meal and was sitting in the bath. The hot water felt good on his aching muscles. He saw the curtain pull back and T'Pol came in with the knife in her hand. "Uh. T'Pol? What are you doing? I'm in the bath here."

"You need a shave. Lay back so that I can do so."

"You usually wait until I'm out of the bath and dressed before you shave me."

"You have more stubble than usual. It would be best if I shave you while you're still in the water. Please lay your head back."

Jon watched as she walked towards him. She reached into the water moving her hand around, brushing against him. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for the soap. It's easier to shave you if there is a little lather on your face." Her hand brushed against him a few more times.

He raised up a hand holding the soap. "Here. Here's the soap. Can't this wait until I'm out of the tub?"

"It could, but as I previously stated, it would be best if this were done here." She positioned herself behind him and pulled his head back into her. His head resting between her breast and he wasn't too sure what to think about all of this.

When she finished shaving him, she did something that made his heart stop. She undressed herself and got into the tub with Jon. "Uh... T'Pol?"

She put her finger against his lips as she moved closer to him. "Shhh. It's ok."

"You can't do this. What about Trip? He could walk in any second. Do you know what he'll do to us...to _me_ if he finds us like this?"

T'Pol gave a small smile. "Trip is in the grain shed with Charlie. He is very aware of what's going on in here. We discussed this a long time ago. It's ok, there's no need for you to feel awkward about this."

"Wait? What? You discussed this? Discussed what exactly?"

"It's only natural that you have needs, desires. Even Vulcans have those urges. To deny your need would be illogical."

"You see? This is why I have to leave. T'Pol, you're Trip's wife. He's my best friend. I can't do this to him, to either of you. I can't be the reason for any resentment between the two of you."

"And do you plan to isolate yourself for the rest of your life? You'd go insane. We can't allow you to do that. You helped me when I needed it. Now allow me to help you...unless you'd rather Trip help you?"

Jon looked shocked. "What? No! Trip? No! Look, what happened with us, your Pon Farr, at the time we both thought Trip was dead but now...it's just not right. I can't do this. If the shoe was on the other foot and you were _my_ wife? I'd snap his neck."

T'Pol rolled her eyes at him. "You humans are so hung up on sexual matters. Trip knows what's going on with you. I already told you, Trip and I talked about this before. We both knew eventually this day would come. Kind of like the human version of Pon Farr. Trip is being quite logical about this matter...can't you?"

"I can't believe Trip would be ok with this. Do you really expect me to believe Trip sent you in here to uh...make love...to me?"

"I can call him in and you can ask him yourself if you'd like. If it helps you, he can stay and observe. Shall I call for him?"

"No! No...no...no. No T'Pol. Don't call for him. Just uh...get out of the tub and let me deal with this problem my own way."

"Ok. If that's what you really want. But first." She leaned over and gave him a passionate kiss. Reaching down, she began stroking at him. Jon's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he started to believe that this would be an acceptable way to deal with his problem. Without thinking he pulled her closer to him, forgetting his previous arguments as to why this was wrong. His mind reeling with the reasons it was right. Before he could think straight again, she had moved herself onto his lap and took him into her. He was lost in a tornado of his thoughts. Lost in the sound of the water splashing on the floor of each movement. Lost in how good this felt.

Jon went into the grain shed. Trip saw the look on his face and knew what would come next. "Charlie, go outside and play. Me and daddy need to do some grown-up talking."

"Ok." Charlie said as he tossed down the handful of grain he had been threshing. He looked up at Jon. "Daddy, I'm glad you're home. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Jon said smiling. After Charlie left the shed, he started in on Trip. "What the fuck? Do you know what just happened in there?"

"Yeah. I know what happened. I'm not mad if that's what you think. Me and T'Pol talked about this a long time ago. I knew it was gonna happen eventually. It's ok."

"Ok? Ok!? You know, T'Pol said the two of you discussed this. And why wasn't I involved in this discussion? And how can you be so...so..._casual_ about this? She's your wife for God's sake! She's not some kind of toy or something that we can share! Fucks sake I need a drink!"

Jon pulled a ceramic bottle down from a shelf and flopped down on a pile of grain grass and took a big, long drink.

Trip flopped down next to him. "No, T'Pol isn't a toy and neither one of us should dare think of her that way. T'Pol and I have a mate bond, but my wife? I'm not sure if either one of us classifies our relationship that way. We never spoke the vows. As for you? Well. Two men, one woman? Doesn't take a Vulcan to do the math on that one. Trust me Jon, it was the logical thing to do for you." Jon squinted his eyes at Trip's ear. "What are you looking at?" Trip asked.

"Just seeing if you're growing points on those ears of yours. You talking about how logical something is, T'Pol cracking jokes. You two have been in each other's heads too long. Keep this up and your ears are bound to get pointed."

"T'Pol cracking jokes? What did she say?"

"She asked if I'd rather have you deal with...uh you know. And she implied that she would be ok if you watched! I swear! She's getting more like you every day."

Trip scooted closer to Jon, grinning as he ran a finger down Jon's chest, twirling at his chest hairs. "Well? Is that why you came out here? You'd prefer that I help you?"

Jon crinkled his eyebrows at him. "You know Trip, you keep cracking more and more of those kind of jokes. If you're not careful, I might take you up on that offer one of these days."

Trip stopped grinning and jerked his hand away from Jon's chest. He grabbed the bottle from Jon's hand and took a big drink. "In your dreams pal. In your dreams."

Jon sat for a few seconds. "You know. The three of us need to have a long talk about this."

"I agree. Not today. Today we get drunk." And Trip took another long drink.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Malcolm was in the situation room with the senior staff. He was shocked at what lieutenant LaVey had just told him. "You're saying there's some sort of temporal displacement surrounding the planet?"

"Yes sir. I checked the figures three times. The displacement is definitely there. That's what's causing the communications interface and the reason we can't get near the planet."

"What's the timeline displacement, lieutenant?"

"One year for each day."

"What! It took us two days to find this planet. Assuming it took them two days to come across that planet as well, another day for us to realize something was wrong, plus the two to find it and another day and a half for us to research our readings...my God! For them it's been almost five years!"

"Yes sir. Those are my calculations."

Travis shook his head. "They probably think Enterprise has given up on them a long time ago. They probably think we've written them off for dead."

"We can't even get a message through to let them know what's going on. Most likely they're not even aware of the time displacement." Hoshi stated with sadness in her voice.

Malcolm turned to Kelby. "Would we be able to send a shuttle down? Transport them? _Something_?"

"No sir. Transporting them through a time displacement...I'm not sure if they'd re-materialize. Even if they did, the shock of the time distortion would most likely kill them. Sending a shuttle would trap anyone else on the planet as well. When Enterprise skimmed the exosphere, it caused that portion of the ship to...well...age. That's where our thirty percent of the plasma went. It was as if the ship was running full throttle for three months. The plasma simply dried up. I suspect that when pod one hit the exosphere and they went down, the shuttle's plasma supply fully depleted. The reason they couldn't get off the planet."

Malcolm was hit hard by this. "We have to let them know that we're up here, that we're trying to rescue them somehow."

"What do you think they've been doing this whole time?" Travis asked of curiosity.

"My guess. Losing their minds." Malcolm replied. He wasn't going to let his commanding officers suffer any longer than they already have. "Hoshi. Find a way to get through that interference and compensate for the time distortion. Get a signal through to them, even if it's just a blip to let them know we're here, we haven't given up on them. Kelby and Travis, find a way to get them off that planet. LaVey, work with all three to get past this time issue. We're going to bring them home...somehow."

A few hours later, Malcolm was in the ready room when the door chime rang, Hoshi and LaVey entered the room. "Have you found a way to get a message to them?" Malcolm asked hopefully.

"We think so sir." Hoshi didn't sound too convincing. "Lieutenant LaVey and I think we might be able to modify a probe to send to them. It would contain a pre-recorded message. Commander Tucker would have to make adjustments on his end to compensate for the time difference in order to retrieve the message, but it shouldn't be that difficult. Commander Kelby is working on making the modification now. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to have it ready."

Malcolm sighed. "Keep in mind, hours to us is like months to them. We can't just let them sit down there waiting and wondering. Would this modification work as a two way communication? Would they be able to send us a message back?"

Hoshi and LaVey looked at each other. "I can work on an algorithm to program into the probe so they can, sir. Just keep in mind that any messages sent to or from the planet wouldn't be instant. We wouldn't be able to talk directly to them." LaVey explained.

Malcolm finally felt a small glimmer of hope but was queasy about his next question. "Has Kelby been able to make any headway to figuring out how to get them off the planet?"

LaVey continued. "Kelby thinks he might have a solution but uh..."

"Uh what? Lieutenant?"

Hoshi had known Malcolm long enough to anticipate his reaction to what would follow and decided to take the pressure off of LaVey's shoulders. "Kelby feels he might be able to adjust the transporter to compensate for the time distortion, but he's not sure if he can compensate for their physical age difference. Keep in mind, they're five years older than when they left us a few days ago, and it will take a little time to make the adjustments. He thinks if he can find a way to restore them to their proper ages, it would make the transporting transition possible."

Malcolm's look was the one Hoshi expected he'd have. "Time? How much time? How much longer do they have to be tortured like this?"

"A couple days maybe." Hoshi said bluntly.

"Shit! A couple days? _Years_ for them. Tell Kelby to put every person he can on this transporter project. I want to get Captain Archer and Commanders T'Pol and Tucker back on this ship, back to normal time before they're old enough for a retirement home. And get that damn probe down to them ASAP! We have to let them know we're here. Help is coming."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It had been several months since Jon's bathtub experience. The three had had their lengthy discussion and T'Pol had come up with an odd proposal, but eventually ended up being a solution they could all feel comfortable with. Trip had used some metals from what was left of the shuttle to fashion six rings, two for each of them. The rings were made from strands of gold, silver and copper braided together. The gold to represent Jon, silver represented Trip and copper for T'Pol's high copper blood content. They had hiked to a cliff overlooking the ocean where they spoke their vows, each of them placing a ring on the other's fingers as they each spoke their own vow. Jon and Trip each gave a kiss on T'Pol's lips, then a kiss on each other's lips. The marriage was sealed. Jon, Trip and T'Pol now each belonged to one another.

Jon and Trip was pounding at the grain to mill into flour while T'Pol tended the garden. They saw a streak of light cutting through the sky and watched as it landed near the site of the shuttle crash. T'Pol stood awkwardly, her belly swollen. "What was that?"

"I don't know. A meteorite maybe?" Jon replied. Looking at Trip he continued. "Think we should go check it out?"

"I'll get our gear. T'Pol, you stay here with Charlie, Jon and I will be back soon." He gave her a peck on the cheek and rubbed her belly.

After a few hours Jon and Trip returned and was carrying a surprise. T'Pol's eyes grew wide when she looked at it. She rubbed her hand across the metal surface where the lettering was. '_Probe Mark I NX-01_' "A probe from Enterprise? They've come back after all these years? Why did they send a probe? Why not beam down or come by shuttle?"

Trip studied the probe. "It's been modified. There's a message in it."

"Can you retrieve the message?" Jon asked.

"Yeah. I think so. Give me a sec." Trip went into the bedroom to get his tool case. He blew some dust off and opened it. He looked at the tools with slight confusion before selecting the one he needed.

Charlie watched him intently as Trip made some adjustments. Charlie jumped at the sudden voice of a stranger. Jon, T'Pol and Trip grinned widely at the recognition of the voice.

Malcolm's voice filled the room. _Captain, Commanders. I pray that you are able to retrieve this probe and make the necessary adjustments to hear this message. This is going to be the most shocking message you'll most likely ever hear. First I want you to know that Enterprise is doing everything we can to get you home as quickly as possible. I'm sure the three of you think we've abandoned you, but we haven't. Don't give up, we're here, we're not leaving until you're home. You're probably wondering why we haven't sent a shuttle or beamed you up. At the moment we can't. Kelby is working on the transporter issue, but it will take a few days. _They heard Malcolm sigh. _Here's the shocking part. There is a time displacement surrounding the planet. What is a day in normal space is a year on the planet. To the three of you, you've been down there five years. To the rest of us, it's been five days. Kelby and LaVey are working out the calculations so that when we can beam you back, your physical bodies will be restored to the age of what it was when you went into the nebula. Hoshi and lieutenant LaVey have modified the probe so that we can send messages to each other. It's not instantaneous. Any messages Enterprise sends to you would take a few hours of your time to receive, however messages you send to us will only take minutes. Hoshi has suggested that we gut a torpedo and load it with any supplies you might need to send to you. Just send us a list, whatever it is, medical supplies, tools, clothing...whatever and we'll get it to you. Oh yeah. Captain, Hoshi wanted me to tell you that she's been taking care of Porthos for you and that he misses you. We'll be standing by for your message and transmit to you when we have made a way to get you back on the ship. Hang in there. Don't give up! Reed out._ The message ended.

The three sat in shock at the message they just heard. "Five days?" Trip muttered.

"Daddy, who was that? And what is this thing?" Charlie asked.

Trip looked at Charlie, but didn't answer his questions. Instead he looked at T'Pol's swollen belly and said to no one in particular. "Transporting to restore our age? What kind of issue would that cause to them?"

Jon sighed. "I guess I should send back a reply."

Malcolm got excited when he heard the beeping coming from the comm station. "They got our message and sent back a reply? That was faster than I expected. On audio."

"Yes sir." Hoshi responded excitedly.

Jon's voice came over the speakers. _Malcolm, we got your message...obviously. We're all doing well. It's a huge shock to discover that there's a time displacement, as you can imagine. We've built a house here and actually have been doing quite well...once we got adjusted to being on our own that is. I don't think it's necessary to send any supplies as we've been pretty self-sufficient down here._ Suddenly Trip's voice. _Coffee! Send coffee! We need coffee!_ Jon's voice. _Shut up Trip! We don't need coffee. Ok. Yeah. Send coffee. Send Porthos too. What? You have Bugs why can't I have Porthos? Yeah ok. Don't send Porthos. Just give him a piece of cheese for me. Mmmm...cheese. Send cheese. And scotch. And pizza. And...huh?...oh! Yeah...guess we're missing more things than we thought. Belay all that, you don't need to send us anything, we're fine. There is a huge concern about the transporter issue. Well... get ready for your own shock. We have children down here. T'Pol is pregnant, most likely the baby will be born and a couple months old by the time you you're hearing this. What affect will it have on them if the transporter is modified to restore our age? If it means that the children will be lost well...don't rescue us. We won't leave our children or risk their lives. The three of us talked about this at length. If you can't get the children on the ship safely, well then...just leave us and go on with your own lives. We'll be ok. Let us know what you come up with._ Trip's voice. _Coffee! Send coffee!_ Jon's voice. _Trip! Shut the fuck up! We don't need coffee. Give me that pink leaf! You don't need any more of that! Gah! I swear! T'Pol? You have anything you want to say? No. Ok. Archer out I guess._

The bridge crew wasn't sure what to make of that message. Travis spoke up. "Did he say children? Did he say _our_ children?"

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I didn't think about them being isolated for five years. Who knows what's been going on down there, but obviously it resulted in children. And did you hear how strange the Captain sounded, and Trip? They _must_ be losing their minds."

Hoshi looked at Malcolm. "They must be if they're turning bugs into pets...ew."

Malcolm chuckled. "And Sluggo?"

"He wasn't a bug. That's different."

"Ok, ok. If you say so Hosh. LaVey, get with Kelby and work on this new children problem. This might take longer than a few days. And forget what the Captain said...send them coffee."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_**Home is where you make it...**_

Jon, Trip and T'Pol were cuddled together in the bed when they were woken by a beeping sound and the baby crying. The baby wasn't what bothered them, it was the beeping. It had been over a year since they heard a sound come from the probe and it was a mild shock. T'Pol got up to get Henry as Jon and Trip checked the probe. Charlie came out of his bedroom rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Dads? What's that noise?"

"Just the probe, Charlie. Nothing to be worried about." Jon told him as he pressed the button to hear the message.

They heard Malcolm's voice. _Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We've been pretty busy up here with trying to get the transporter issue solved. Kelby and LaVey thinks they might be close to solving it and we should be ready for a test run by tomorrow. I know that will be a year for you. I'm sorry about that. We really are trying to work as fast as we can. LaVey believes he might be able to get all of you, children included, back to the ship but...well we won't be able to restore your ages. Once on the ship, you will be the age that you are on the planet. I'm sure that's not exactly what you want to hear, but it would be the only way to retrieve the children as well. Let us know what you think of this plan, if it's acceptable to you. By the way...do you need more coffee? Reed out._

Jon shook his head. "Another day. Another year. What do the two of you think? Do we let Malcolm continue trying to rescue us or do we just stay here and live out our lives as we planned?"

Trip gave a sigh. "I don't know, Jon. Asked me six years ago and I'd been all for getting outta here, but now...well...it's our home. Sure I miss Hoshi, Mal, and Travis...all of them. I miss Enterprise, but we've made a home here. I just really don't know what to think."

"T'Pol? What about you?" Jon asked.

"The logical thing would be to return to Enterprise regardless of our advanced age difference, as long as there is no harm to the children. I can see Trip's point however, we have made a home here and to simply turn our backs on that would be difficult. It will take some thinking and a great deal of discussion."

Malcolm heard the signal that the probe sent back a message and ordered it to be played on audio. They heard Jon's voice. _Sorry it took a couple days to get back to you. Well, I guess what was a couple days for us was ten minutes or an hour or whatever for you but we had a lot of thinking and talking to do down here. We've decided that we'll proceed with the test run as soon as you're ready. We understand you won't be able to restore our ages, but that's ok, as long as it will be safe for the children. Make DAMN sure it will be safe for the children! Let us know what we can do on our end to help with any tests. Trip did some math and wanted me to remind Kelby that it was time to recalibrate the plasma coils. Trip's outside at the moment so I can say this freely, but if anyone repeats this to him that I said it, I'll deny it. Fuck the coils! Just keep doing what you're doing on the transporter. Yes, we could use more coffee and send sugar this time, Trip isn't too happy about taking his coffee black. He'd prefer cream too, but we don't have any way to keep it refrigerated and he absolutely hates the powered cream, so he said he'd settle for just sugar. _They heard a door and Trip in the background. _Did you remind Kelby about the plasma coils? _Jon sighed. _Yes. I reminded them. They'll get to it when they can. The transporter is a higher priority right now. Why don't you take Henry out to the garden with T'Pol and Charlie so I can finish this message? Ok?_ A few seconds went by as they heard muttering and a door close. _Malcolm, if it ends up being just me, T'Pol and the kids coming back...I snapped and killed Trip. Nah. I wouldn't do that, but its days like this... Anyways, just let me know what you need from us. Archer out._

As what were months on the planet went by, they received several messages concerning test runs. They started out by sending plants. The first few transports didn't go so well but they were making progress as time went on. Jon and Trip were setting up another group of plants for a test run when T'Pol came out and had a strange look on her face. "What the hell is wrong with her?" Trip asked Jon.

Jon looked at T'Pol. He'd seen that look before. Seven years ago to be exact. He picked up Henry and clasped Trip on the shoulder. "You're turn. I'm out of here...you're on your own buddy, sorry." Then grabbed Charlie by the hand and hurried off to the grain shed leaving Trip behind, completely confused.

It was night when Trip stumbled out into the shed. Charlie and Henry were fast asleep on a pile of grain grass in a corner. Jon was propped up on another pile drinking from a bottle. He looked up at Trip. "Geez! What did she do to you?"

Trip gave a wide grin. "That was the best sex I've ever had in my life!" He flopped down next to Jon and grabbed the bottle from him.

Jon cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean best sex? Look at you man! You got a black eye, fat lip, scratches and bite marks all over you. How the hell can you say that was the best sex you ever had? What the hell?"

Trip shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I like it rough."

Jon looked at Trip shocked. "Ok. New rule. When our wife goes in her Pon Farr, you take care of it. No matter what...all you."

"You didn't like the Pon Farr?"

"Not my thing, Trip. But hey, if you're into it...well...each their own I guess."

They woke the next morning to the probe beeping at them. They had spent the night drinking and passed out in the shed. As they activated the message they heard Malcolm sounding concerned. _We've been standing by for your signal. Is something wrong? Reed out._

Jon sent back his own message. _Sorry. No nothing's wrong. We got a little side tracked down here and forgot to send the next test up. Ready to go now. Archer out._ Jon pushed the button to send the signal and stepped back. The plants disappeared in a swirling shimmer. Now they wait.

Several tests later it was determined that it was time to try with a live animal. "What should we send up?" Jon asked.

"How about a sehlat? That'll give Mal something exciting to shoot at." Trip laughed.

"Trip, that's mean. How about a rabaroo?"

"No! Absolutely not! No killing rabaroos! You're not sending Bugs or any of her babies up. I'll send you up before I let that happen."

"Ok Trip. Calm down. We won't send a rabaroo. But it should be something small and NOT dangerous."

"A shoat? It won't be that hard to catch one alive."

"Ok then. Let's go get one."

They sent the shoat up and got a disturbing message. _That didn't go very well. Kelby is pretty upset about the mess he has to clean up. He wanted me to tell Trip that as punishment he's saving the coil recalibration for him to do. We'll signal you when we're ready to try again. Reed out._

"Poor shoat." Trip said. "Whelp...let's go find another one to have ready."

The second shoat didn't go too well either. _We don't know what those animals are that you're sending up, but please find something smaller. Those damn things make a hell of a mess when they explode. It's disgusting! Reed out._

They found smaller animals to send up. Not rabaroos. Never rabaroos. It was several years and all three were getting close to giving up.

Jon and Trip were in the shed having their drinks when Charlie came running out. "Dads! Mom said come quick! It's time." They jumped up and Trip told Charlie to stay outside with Henry. As they went into the house they heard T'Pol screaming from the bedroom. Something didn't seem right.

It had been several hours and T'Pol was in too much pain. More than before. Jon and Trip were worried. Trip stayed beside her, holding her hand and keeping cool cloths on her forehead. "Breathe honey. Just breathe. It'll be over soon. Breathe."

Trip looked worriedly at Jon who was holding her bent knees apart. Jon looked at the PADD on the bed next to T'Pol's feet. He quickly read something. "T'Pol! Don't push! Whatever you do..._DON'T push!_"

T'Pol panted and through clenched teeth yelled. "I_ have_ to push!"

"No! Don't! Baby, whatever you do _DON'T_!" Jon looked at Trip wide-eyed.

"What? What's wrong?"

"The baby's head isn't in the right position. I have to... Oh God. Trip, if this doesn't work...get ready for a cesarean. Sweetheart, this is going to hurt. Just don't push."

"It already hurts! Just get this thing the fuck out of me!" T'Pol screaming in agony. Jon reached between her legs. Trip tried to see what he was doing but wasn't able to get a look from where he was standing as T'Pol tightened her grip on him screeching. "What's happening? What are you doing?"

"I need to help get the baby's head turned right. Into a downward position...that's it! Ok T'Pol! Push honey! Push hard!" T'Pol screamed loudly and gave a hard push. Jon's voice was shaking "I got it! I got it."

T'Pol was breathing hard. Trip looked at Jon waiting to hear the crying sound, but it wasn't coming. Jon blew into the baby's mouth and giving small quick pushes on its chest. "Come on baby. Breathe. Come on." He said between breaths. Trip's eyes started to fill with tears as he said a silent prayer. Suddenly the sound of a loud cry filled the room and tears of joy streamed down Trip's face. Jon had his own tears as he said joyfully. "Oh yes! That's it baby! Oh listen to those lungs on you! That's it! Breathe!"

Trip looked down at T'Pol. She was exhausted and her own tears ran down her face. Trip wiped her tears away then his own. "What...what is it?"

Jon looked up sobbing and smiling. "A girl! Our beautiful girl."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

They had done all the tests. The day they worked so hard for had come. They had been on the planet seventeen years. It was the place they crashed. The place they explored. The place they faced danger. The place they struggled to survive. The place they grew closer to each other. The place they learned what they really could accomplish. The place they built a house. The place they married. The place they raised their children. The place that was their planet, their home. They were leaving a piece of themselves behind.

Jon took a long look around. "Are we ready to do this?" T'Pol and Trip both nodded. Malcolm had informed them in one of his transmissions that they could only bring them up one at a time. Jon looked at them heavy-hearted. "I'll go first. Just in case. If I make it, I'll send a message right away." He gave each of the kids a big hug and kiss. Hugging and kissing T'Pol. "I love you, wife."

"You'll make it husband. Have faith." She said, surprising Jon. She never believed in faith as it was illogical, but she had changed over the seventeen years, more than he realized.

He turned to Trip and gave him a hug. Without warning he gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. Trip looked at him shocked. "Told you that one day you'd make one too many of those jokes and that I'd take you up on it. Today's the day."

Trip laughed. "Yeah. Ok. You got me. We'll be waiting for your signal."

Jon pushed the button to signal he was in position, then disappeared in a swirling shimmer. They waited for some time when the probe beeped at them. Trip activated the message. Jon's voice came to them. _I made it safely. There's a little time lag and it kind of tingles, but all in all it's not that bad. T'Pol, you're next. Jon out._

T'Pol went followed by Charlie. When Charlie opened his eyes, he looked around and saw his mother and father with four other people he didn't know. He stepped off the transporter pad and looked at Jon. "So this is the great starship I've heard about all my life? Not as impressive as you made it out to be."

Jon gave Charlie a playful slap upside the head. "This is just the transporter room. Shut up."

Malcolm spoke. "So you're Charlie? Nice to finally meet you."

"Hey. I know your voice. You're the voice from the probe."

Malcolm chuckled. "Yes, I guess so. This is Hoshi, Travis, Lieutenant LaVey and Commander Kelby."

The transporter station beeped at them to indicate the next one was ready to beam up. This got Charlie's attention and he went over to watch intensely. Next came Henry. He stood wide-eyed then went straight to T'Pol. Malcolm tried the introductions with him, but Henry would have no part of it. Jon knelt down next to him. "It's ok Henry. These are the friends we told you about." Henry still wasn't too sure about the situation and stayed at T'Pol's side. Jon looked up. "Sorry, guess he's a little shy. He'll warm up to you in no time."

Next came T'Mir. She was the spunky one and her appearance was strikingly odd in a beautiful way. Her hair was dark with specks of blonde through it and her almond shaped eyes were one green and one blue. As soon as she materialized she ran to Jon as he hoisted her up. "Daddy! That was fun! Can I do it again?"

"Not right now little brat. Some other time though, I promise." Jon grinned at her.

She turned to the four others. "Hi. I'm T'Mir. Have any of you done that ride? It's fun."

Hoshi giggled. "Yes it is fun. Hi T'Mir. I'm Hoshi. Ish-veh nam-tor agreeable tor ragel-tor du."

T'Mir's eyes grew wide "Ish-vey nam-tor agreeable tor ragel-tor du nuh'. Mommy! She speaks Vulcan."

"Yes. I know. Hoshi speaks many languages." T'Pol said flatly.

"What did you say?" Travis asked.

Before Hoshi could answer, Jon said. "Hoshi said _it is agreeable to meet you_. T'Mir said _it is agreeable to meet you too_."

"Since when do you speak Vulcan?" Malcolm asked surprised.

Jon chuckled. "Well Trip and I did have seventeen years to learn, and T'Pol is a good teacher."

Trip took one last look around. Bugs hopped by and he bent over to pick her up. "I have half a mind to bring you with me. I guess you need to stay here and take care of your babies though. I'm gonna miss you." He gave Bugs a light hug then gently took the tattered cloth from her ear before setting her on the ground and gave her a scratch between her ears. "Take care of yourself. House is all yours if you want it." He walked over to the probe and tapped the button. Bugs wiggled her nose at the air where her friend had just vanished from.

Trip looked around the transporter room and landed his eyes on Charlie who was at the control console. He looked at Jon in shock. "You let him beam me up? What the hell?"

"Kelby was right there making sure he did everything right. Besides you're fine aren't you?"

"That's not the point, jerk."

Trip's physical change was the most dramatic and the four stared at him taking it all in. The first thing they all noticed was that his hair was long...very long. It was pulled back in a braid that loosely wrapped around one of his thighs three times.

"What?" Trip asked crinkling his eyebrows at them.

"Uh...nice hair, Commander." Malcolm stated.

Trip grinned. "Thanks. I like it."

"Is that a tooth through your ear?" Travis sounded a little surprised and shocked.

Jon chuckled. "Yeah...Trip went a little wild on us down there." He shrugged. "What can you do?"

The group walked out into the corridor. Charlie took a look around. Now he was starting to get impressed. As they walked to the lift, Trip began to feel uneasy and pressed himself into Jon. Travis and Malcolm looked at each other surprised by this action and more surprised that Jon acted like this was a normal thing.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Trip, Jon, Hoshi and Malcolm were sitting at a table in the crew mess. They had pushed tables together to make it long enough in anticipation of T'Pol and the children to join them when Phlox was done with his examinations. As they ate their meals of foods they hadn't had in a very long time, Malcolm and Hoshi took the opportunity to ask the questions they've been dying to ask for days. "So, Trip. What's with the tooth in your ear?" Malcolm wondered.

"It's from a sehlat. A huge bear-like creature that tried to kill me. I won. Tooth is kind of a trophy."

Malcolm scoffed at that. "Really? It tried to kill you?" Trip pulled up his shirt to show him the scars. "Oh. Damn! I guess it really did try to kill you. Glad you won."

Hoshi had to ask. "What kind of bugs did you make as pets?"

Jon and Trip looked at each other. "Huh? Bugs as pets? Where did you get that idea from?"

"Your first message. The Captain wanted us to send Porthos and commented that you had your bugs."

Trip laughed. "No, no. Not bugs like insects. That was the name of my rabaroo..._Bugs_...as in Bugs Bunny, the old Earth cartoon."

"Rabaroo?"

"Looked like a cross between a rabbit and kangaroo, only smaller than a rabbit. Very friendly creatures. You woulda liked them, Hosh. Really cute. I almost brought Bugs back with me, but she's better off on Celestia."

"Celestia?" Malcolm questioned.

Jon shoved a fork full of meatloaf in his mouth. "Name we gave to the planet."

Hoshi and Malcolm shifted uncomfortably. Jon and Trip looked at each other knowing what the subject of the next set of questions were going to be about.

Malcolm was the brave one to ask. "So uh...the children? Who's their father?"

Jon smiled. "We both are."

"Uh...ok so who's the father of who?"

Trip laughed. "We're both the father of all three."

Hoshi and Malcolm were now completely confused and Trip continued. "Ok, so some weird stuff happened down there. Let's just say we don't know who the biological father of any of them are and we don't want to know. As far as the kids are concerned, we're both their fathers."

Malcolm questioned. "So if you don't know who the father of who is, whose name do they have?"

Jon answered. "Charlie is Tucker, just to keep the tradition. Charles Tucker IV. Henry and T'Mir are Tucker-Archer."

"Why Tucker first?"

Trip shrugged. "Rolls off the tongue better."

Hoshi shook her head. "Well it's not that hard to figure out who the father of Charlie is. He's the spitting image of you, Commander."

Jon looked down and Trip felt a little uncomfortable. "Look uh... Charlie's a bit of a touchy subject. Let's just drop that ok."

"Oh. Sure. Sorry I didn't..."

"It's ok Hoshi" Jon said. "I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Malcolm went to the next awkward question. "So, what's up with the rings? Wedding rings? And two bands each?"

Trip explained. "Well...that is kinda the odd one. I mean, well...obviously things got strange...sexually. T'Pol decided that in order to make it less awkward, we should enter a Rehkuh u' veh marriage."

"A what marriage?"

Hoshi explained. "Rehkuh u' veh. It literally translates to _three as one_. It's an extremely ancient Vulcan custom. I don't think it's been practiced for thousands of years, but at one time it was acceptable for someone to take multiple mates. I'm a little surprised that T'Pol would suggest it, but under the circumstances, I guess she would see it as logical."

"So uh...how does that work? You take turns like every other week or something?"

Jon dropped his head shaking it while laughing. He knew_ someone_ was going to ask that question. Leave it to Malcolm to be the one. "It's really up to T'Pol. Whatever mood she's in. Sometimes it's me, sometimes its Trip...sometimes both."

Malcolm's eyes popped out and his jaw dropped. "_Both_? Are you serious? I wouldn't figure T'Pol to be that type."

"Well, you know what they say...it's always the quiet ones."

"So you're both married to T'Pol then?"

"All three of us are married to each other. Trip and I are married to T'Pol, T'Pol is married to both of us and me and Trip are married to each other."

More eye popping and jaw dropping. "So Trip is your..."

"Husband. Yes."

"Well that don't mean the two of you...does it?"

Jon chuckled and shook his head as Trip gave him a nudge with his elbow. "Well there was that one time when we got really, _really_ drunk."

Jon looked at Trip in shock. "Trip! I thought we agreed we'd never bring that up again."

Malcolm's mouth was a gaping hole before he started thinking then smirked. "Ah! You almost had me there. Yeah. You guys are just messing with me, right? Right? You're...you're...right?"

Jon looked at him somewhat offended. "And what if we did...or still do? Does that bother you? Do you feel you can't serve under a Captain that's homosexual or bisexual?"

"N-no...that's not it at all...sir. Your sexually...any ones sexually is none of my business. I don't care who sleeps with who...it's...It's just a little bit of a shock that's all. I mean...seventeen days ago...I would've never pegged you...wait...was something going on before then? Never mind...none of my business. You're not screwing with me?"

Trip couldn't take it anymore and busted out laughing. "Oh Mal! You're just so damn gullible. Too easy man. Too easy. I think I missed this the most."

Malcolm gave Trip a halfway smirk. Kicking himself for once again falling into one of Trip's jokes, this time dragging the Captain along with him. "Ok. You got me. HA HA. So you don't sleep together, just husbands because of this Reh-Reh...whatever marriage."

Trip stuck his tongue in his cheek and thought for a second. "Well...we do sleep together. All three of us had taken up sleeping in the same bed and T'Pol usually gets up hours before we do. So it's not that unusual for us to wake up cuddling. But that's about it. Nothing sexual."

Trip looked over and saw T'Pol coming into the mess with the children as T'Mir ran over to them. "Daddy!"

Trip hoisted her onto his lap. "Hey princess!" T'Mir gave him a hug then moved over to sit on Jon's lap. "What's this? Just passing through? Ok then. See how I rank."

T'Mir grinned at Trip. "Uh-huh." She pointed at Jon's plate. "Daddy. What's that?"

"Meatloaf. Want to try some?" She nodded and Jon gave her a bite. She looked up at him. "Mmm!" Jon gave her the fork so she could help herself.

Charlie walked up carrying his plate and T'Mir's. Looking at Trip's plate as he sat down. "What's that?"

"Southern fried chicken. Wanna try?" Charlie helped himself to a bite and seemed to enjoy it. Trip scowled at his plate of fruits and vegetables. "Let me guess...your mother made your plate for you."

Charlie rolled his eyes and sarcastically asked. "How could you possibly guess?" Trip put a piece of his chicken on Charlie's plate as T'Pol and Henry joined them.

"Fried foods isn't healthy for you, Charlie." T'Pol stated blandly.

Trip rolled his eyes. "He's a growing boy. Let him eat." Then Trip got a shocked look on his face. "Oh my God! I just sounded like my mother." Jon pointed his finger at Trip and laughed at him.

Hoshi thought of something then asked. "Trip, how are you going to explain your unusual marriage to your parents? And the children?"

Trip hadn't thought about that before and took a moment to do so. "Well. Mom and dad love Jon...I think sometimes more than they love me, so I'm pretty sure they'll be ok with it, and once they get to know T'Pol they'll adore her. They're going to be ecstatic about having grandchildren. Three of them even. No. I guess the hard part will be explaining how I've aged seventeen years in less than a month. But they'll get over it." Turning to T'Pol. "What did Phlox say? You were in there for a long time. Everything ok with you and the kids?"

"He said we're all healthy, but he does want to speak to the three of us later. He didn't say why, just that he wants all three of us to be there." Trip and Jon got a sinking feeling that something was wrong and they wasn't looking forward to the meeting with Phlox later.

Malcolm had been watching the children eat. "The kids aren't vegetarian? That's a little surprising."

Trip explained. "Well, we never forced them to be vegetarian. We decided to let them choose. Henry here is the only one that took after his mom."

"Yeah. Only after we took him hunting and skinned and butchered a sehlat in front of him. I told you he was too young for that." Jon scolded Trip.

"Hey. First off, Charlie was younger than Henry first time we took him hunt'n and it didn't bother him. Second, it's good for a person to know where their food comes from and how it gets on their plate."

"You know Henry is more sensitive to that sort of thing. We should've waited a few more years."

Charlie had gotten good at reading his dads and knew when an argument was about to erupt. "Hey. I don't care how my food gets on my plate. As long as it gets there."

"See. He gets it." Trip said.

Just then someone had dropped a tray and it made a loud crashing noise when it hit the floor. The entire family practically jumped out of their skins. Someone turned to look and bumped into Trip's chair causing him to panic a little. He pressed himself hard into Jon. Malcolm scrunched his face up. "You know, I notice you keep leaning into the Captain. What's up with that?"

Jon wrapped his arm around Trip as he answered. "Sometimes Trip gets a little nervous about something. It's a habit he picked up on Celestia. I guess I'm kind of like his security blanket or something."

Trip's panic attack passed and he sat back up. "Yeah. I guess being just us on Celestia, all these noises and people...gonna take some getting used to again."

They finished their meal and Charlie nudged at Trip. "Dad."

"Hmm? You done eating? Ok." Trip pulled out a long cylinder shaped purple item from his pocket and handed it to Charlie who put it between his lips.

Jon snapped his fingers and pointed at Charlie. "No. We agreed that would be confined to quarters only."

Charlie pulled it out of his mouth. "Ok. Where are our...um_..."quarters"_ then?"

Jon, Trip and T'Pol looked at each other. Trip made a popping noise with his mouth. "We didn't think about that did we? As I remember, quarters are small for one. Impossible for six. Where's everybody gonna sleep tonight?"

Jon thought for a minute. "Henry will stay with me, T'Mir with T'Pol and Charlie with you. We'll figure out the rest tomorrow. Ok?"

"Ok. So Charlie, you can go smoke in my quarters."

"Um. Dad...where is that exactly?"

"C'mon. I'll show ya. At least I think I remember how to get there."

After they left Malcolm was a little surprised. "Captain? You're really going to allow smoking on the ship? I mean, it is just nicotine? Right? And Charlie? Isn't he only sixteen?"

"Trip was younger than that when he first started smoking. At least Charlie doesn't try to do it behind our backs. Yeah. The purple leaf is nicotine. The other is pink. I told them as long as they kept it in quarters I'd let it slide. Guess I'm going to have to rub Starfleet the wrong way on this one and make it a rule for everybody. As long as it's in their own quarters."

Malcolm and Hoshi had a sudden realization. "Ah! _Pink leaf_. Well that explains some of your messages and why you sounded so strange. We were afraid you had lost your mind down there."

"I did." Jon shrugged.

"Not going to get me again, sir."

"I'm not joking. I did go a little crazy down there. But it's ok. It's the fun kind of crazy. Trip went a little more over the edge, if you can't tell. T'Pol's doing a good job of hiding it, but her mind went a little too. She actually smiles, laughs and cracks jokes now. Don't you honey?"

T'Pol raised an eyebrow. "If you say so, husband."

"See?"

Hoshi had another question. "Doesn't it get confusing with the kids calling you both dad?"

"No. We usually know which one of us they're talking to, and if there is a little confusion, they just let us know. Especially this little brat. Don't you?"

T'Mir looked up at Jon and grinned. "Uh-huh."

"Little brat?" Hoshi asked amused.

"Yeah. She was a brat since the day she was born. She gave us a pretty big scare." He went on telling them the story of her troubled birth.

Malcolm was amazed. "I can't believe you actually played doctor at birthing all three of your children. That's incredible."

"Well, Charlie being the first, we were all pretty nervous about it. As soon as we found out T'Pol was pregnant, me and Trip started reading everything we could about birthing. When the day came, Trip was shaking so much, I thought he was going to shake the whole house down on us. Henry was the easy one, thankfully."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

They had went to sickbay to find out what Phlox was concerned about. They were all a little nervous about what it was. "Ah! Captain, Commanders. Please come in. I thought the three of you should hear this together."

"Is something wrong with us? With the children?" Jon couldn't hide the concern in his voice.

"No. No, you're all perfectly healthy. This isn't bad news if that's what you're worried about. It's just something interesting I found in my exams and thought you'd like to know."

Trip groaned. "Oh no. T'Pol is pregnant again ain't she?" Not that it would be a bad thing just that they weren't sure about a fourth child.

"No. She's not pregnant. Why? Have you been trying?"

"We didn't try with the other three. It just happened. Not like we had access to birth control down there." Jon stated. "Ok. So what's this about then?"

"Well, it's standard procedure that a genetic test be done. I know you don't want to know who the biological father of whom is, but I can tell you, if you ever decide that you want to know. But ah...it is about T'Mir. Her genetics are a bit...shall we say...extraordinary."

Trip let out a sigh. "Maybe we should find out. I mean, it won't change anything but if we're gonna talk about T'Mir...we should talk about all three. Right?"

Jon thought for a moment. "Ok. I guess. You're right, it won't change anything. Charlie is obvious, so what about Henry?"

"You're correct, Captain. Charlie's biological father is Mr. Tucker here. As for Henry, Captain, you're his biological father." Jon grinned at that. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he always knew that from the moment T'Pol took him in that bathtub, he had gotten her pregnant.

"Ok, so what's up with T'Mir? Don't tell us neither one of us is her father, because unless there was some sort of invisible entity on that planet that we never knew about, it would be impossible."

Phlox took a moment before explaining. "Have you noticed how different her appearance is?"

"Yeah. It's kinda hard not to notice." Trip said. He was getting a little annoyed with Phlox's beating around the bush. "Can we just get on with this?"

"Ok. Well, in the case of T'Mir, you're both her biological fathers."

Trip narrowed his eyes. "Uh, Phlox. Where did you say you got your medical degree from? Cause on Earth it don't work like that."

"T'Mir's genetic profile is very rare. T'Mir is a chimera."

"A what?" Jon asked confused.

T'Pol spoke up to explain. "Chimera. She possess the genetic profiling from two donors. Is that assessment correct doctor?"

"Yes. There are different ways for chimerism to occur, but in T'Mir's case, it is from two different donors. Both of you, Captain Archer and Commander Tucker, impregnated Commander T'Pol simultaneously." They shifted around uncomfortably not sure what to say or how to react.

"Oh come now. No need to be embarrassed. Don't forget I am Denobulan. Three wives, each having three husbands. We're no strangers to some of the sexual encounters that goes on when multiple partners are involved. Hmm. Why I could tell you some of the stories between Feezal and me with her second husband-"

Trip cut him off. "Naw. Naw, that's ok. We don't need to know. We get it. Ok. Yeah. Things got...wild sometimes...but _this_? How the hell does this happen? I mean I learned it was one egg and one sperm."

"Well, that's what makes it rare. Usually it is one sperm that fertilizes the egg, even if there is another male involved at the time, but in a rare case as this, a sperm from each of you fertilized the egg and the genetics from each of you were absorbed."

Jon got a little worried. "Is she going to be ok? What exactly does this mean? Is she ok?"

"Oh yes. She's perfectly healthy. What it means however is that other than her appearance, she also has two blood types. B negative, which is your blood type, Captain and O positive, your blood type Commander. She also has an additional DNA genetic strand due to the fact of having two biological fathers. She also has a DNA coding that may interest you, Commander. She shares the same-"

Trip put his hand up cutting Phlox off. "Uh yeah. I know about that." He gave a sideways glace at Jon. "No need to mention it."

Jon looked at Trip. "Trip? What's this about? Know about what?"

"It's nothing really. Don't worry about it."

"Phlox? What's this about? What's Trip hiding?"

Phlox scowled at himself for coming close to mentioning something what he knew the Commander considered as personal. "I'm sorry Captain. Confidentiality. The point is with her having two different blood types could cause some mild issues for a medical professional. You should be aware of that if there is ever a future need."

"What do you mean medical issue?" Trip asked worriedly.

"Well, if she should ever need a blood transfusion, for example, she would require a transfusion of both blood types. And should a doctor who might not have access to her record need to take a sample, it may cause confusion. Additionally, she would not be able to be a donor for someone else who may need a transfusion. But other than that, there really isn't anything else that's wrong with her, medically speaking."

"So, it's just her blood type...or types rather that this is all about? I guess it's not too much to worry about. As long as she's healthy, that's all that matters." Jon said, relieved. His relief was mutual between all three of the parents.

They were in Trip's quarters, T'Pol and Charlie sat on the couch watching the mild argument in front of them. "Come on Trip, after seventeen years we know everything about each other...at least we should. Why won't you tell me what Phlox was talking about?"

"It's nothing. Really. Just drop it ok."

"If it's nothing then why won't you tell me? I am your husband you know, and T'Pol your wife. Don't you think we should know?"

"There's really nothing to know. Just drop it."

"Trip."

"Jon."

They stood staring at each other. Finally Trip threw his hands up in the air. "Ok fine. It's really no big deal. It's just...well...I have this extra ability to see colors that other people can't see. And well...let's just say I'm not as dumb as people think I am. There. Satisfied?"

Jon chuckled. "Did you forget that as Captain I have access to your assessment records? I know your IQ score. It's practically off the charts. Never really understood why you play the dumb act but if that's what you want to do, so be it. So what's this stuff about seeing colors?"

Trip sighed. "I see colors of the spectrum that aren't visible to other people and can pick up color traces that go unnoticed by others."

"What do you mean?"

"Ok. Look at these two walls. What colors do you see?"

"They're both grey."

"The same shade of grey?"

Jon studied the two walls Trip referred to. "Yeah. They're the same shade. Just like all the other walls on the ship."

Charlie spoke up. "Um dad? Not all the walls are the same shade. Some have more blue in them than others."

"See! That's what I'm saying! Obviously these walls were painted at different times and not with the same paint. It drives me nuts! Wait. Charlie? You see it too?"

"Yeah. Doesn't everybody?"

Jon looked at the walls again. "No. Not everybody, apparently. Really? They're different colors? Are you sure?"

"Trust me Jon. I'm sure. It's driven me nuts since the day I first stepped foot on this ship. Hell back at Jupiter station it was all I could do to keep from tearing the walls apart and moving them around to get them all to match up."

"And when you scratched the ship before our maiden voyage? You never did repaint it like I asked."

Trip shrugged. "Couldn't find a paint that exactly matched."

"Ok. So you're very intelligent and you see colors differently. What's the big deal? Why do you hide it?"

"Between my intelligence and the color thing, the other kids in school treated me like I was some kinda freak. I learned at a very young age to hide it. Outside of my parents and a very few people in Starfleet, no one else knows...and I'd like to keep it that way. Ok?"

"Ok Trip. You're secret is safe with me. Marriage confidentiality." Jon gave Trip a peck on the cheek to seal the deal.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Trip was lying in bed trying to sleep. The bed felt strange to him. Cold, unwelcoming, uncomfortable and most of all empty. He decided he couldn't sleep there and left his quarters. He knew where he needed to be. He tapped the button on the door panel outside of the quarters where he knew he'd be more comfortable. The door opened and he walked in. "I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I. Please join me." T'Pol looked tired and disheveled.

Trip went over to the couch and gently woke T'Mir. "Honey, why don't you go to my quarters to sleep tonight? Charlie will be there. You remember how to get there don't ya?"

T'Mir responded sleepily. "Uh-huh. I think so."

"If you get lost just ask anyone. Tell them you're looking for daddy Trip's quarters. They'll know where it is."

"Ok. Daddy." She shuffled out of the room dragging along the teddy bear Hoshi gave her as Trip climbed into T'Pol's bed.

T'Pol didn't make it to the bed when the door chimed again. Trip raised his eyebrows. "Wanna lay odds?"

T'Pol shook her head. "No bet. I think we both know who it is." She opened the door.

Jon walked into the room. "I couldn't sl-" he stopped when he saw Trip already in the bed.

"Join the party." Trip smiled at him as he pulled the covers back to invite Jon to join him.

T'Pol climbed in bed putting herself in the middle. The three twisted and turned for a few moments to get comfortable in the small bed. "In the morning, one of you remind me to requisition a bigger bed." Jon said. Then he chuckled at the joke that popped into his head and decided to share it with his spouses. "First one that farts gets kicked out of the room."

"Jon!" T'Pol gave him a playful slap on the arm as Trip and Jon giggled.

It was early in the morning when T'Pol woke. She sat in front of a lit candle trying to meditate. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get herself to the state of relaxation she needed. The surroundings felt strange, cold and artificial. The air smelled and tasted recycled. She already missed the smell of the field of grain grass, especially after it had rained. She was missing the warm feel of the Celestian air, the light of the sunshine and the sounds of nature. She tried to concentrate on the sound of Trip's soft snoring and the musky, woodsy scent of Jon. She reached out with her mind to feel their warmth and comfort only to find that even in their sleep, they too were just as uneasy as she with these surroundings. It was no use. Just as she blew out the candle, the door chime rang. She heard Jon and Trip stirring as she went over to open the door.

When the door opened, Malcolm walked in with Charlie and Henry on either side. He looked over at the bed. "Huh. Guess they really do cuddle together."

Trip halfway sat up and sleepily asked. "What's going on?"

"Do these belong to you?" Malcolm sounding annoyed.

Trip squinted his eyes at the two boys. "Nope. Never seen them before. Jon?"

"I have no idea who they are."

Malcolm looked at the boys. "Ah. Stowaways then. Guess I'll take them to the dungeon for a flogging."

"Remember, only bread and water." Jon teased.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Ok dads HA HA."

"What did they do?" Trip asked in his 'dad voice'.

"I caught them in the shuttlebay and one of them managed to power up pod two."

"_What!?_" Jon bolted straight up in the bed. "Charlie! What were you thinking?"

"Me? How do you know it wasn't Henry that did it?"

Henry looked up at his older brother. "Hey! It wasn't me and you know it!"

"Come on Charlie. Who do you think you're talking to here? We all know it was you're idea and, as usual, dragged your brother along for the ride." Jon said putting on his own dad voice.

Charlie stuck his tongue in the side of his cheek and narrowed his eyes. Malcolm was amazed at how much he looked like Trip when he did this. "Yeah. Ok. It was my idea. I just wanted to see how it worked. I didn't mean to scare anybody."

T'Pol looked at Charlie. "Where's T'Mir?"

"Still asleep. She's fine. I left a note telling her to stay in dad's quarters and that we'd be right back."

Trip shook his head. "We'll take it from here. Thanks Mal."

"The offer of a flogging is still on the table, if you want." Malcolm teased.

"I'll let you know." Jon said as he narrowed his eyes at his sons.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Enterprise had left the nebula and Jon sent his report to Starfleet detailing what happened to them on Celestia. He included the fact of his Rehkuh u' veh marriage to T'Pol and Trip and also added about the children just to make sure all of his bases were covered. He knew he had been second guessing some of his decisions as Captain, as he had not been a Captain in seventeen years and was rusty. Some of his second guessing showed through in his report.

Trip was also a bit rusty. He was attempting to make adjustments to the plasma injectors and was looking at the tool in his hand with confusion. Lieutenant MacFarlane could see that Trip seemed confused. "Something wrong, Commander?"

Trip glanced around, seeing it was just the two of them, he let out a sigh. "I know I should know this, but for the life of me I don't remember how to use this tool."

"Are you trying to make adjustments to the injectors?"

"Yeah."

"Well...the biggest problem is you have the wrong tool. That's a flux coupler, you need a coil spanner." MacFarlane reached into the tool kit and pulled out the correct tool. "Here. This one."

Trip's cheeks got a little red. "You know, they really don't need to make these tools look so much alike."

MacFarlane chuckled. "I agree, Commander. Does that help jog your memory?"

Trip looked at the coil spanner and it clicked in his mind. "Yes. It does. How embarrassing. Thanks."

"No problem, and don't worry...it'll be our little secret."

"Thanks Seth. I appreciate that." As MacFarlane walked away Trip went to work with the proper tool in hand as it was all slowly coming back to him.

Jon had gotten a message back from Starfleet to return to Earth. The committee counsel wanted a face-to-face meeting with the three to get more details about their time on Celestia. Jon didn't think too much about it, normal procedure he told himself, and ordered Travis to take them back to Earth.

Jon heard the lift door open and started to turn in his chair. "Daddy!" T'Mir called as she ran and jumped onto his lap. He looked up and saw Charlie and Henry step out of the lift, followed by Trip.

"I thought you were adjusting the plasma injectors." He said in surprise to all of their presence on the bridge.

"Finished. I thought the kids might like to see the bridge. Is that ok, Jon? I mean Cap'n."

"I guess so. Just keep an eye on them. Don't let them get into anything."

Charlie was instantly intrested in the helm and went over to Travis to watch him. Henry went to Hoshi as she started to explain the communications station to him. Trip called to T'Mir. "Come here, princess. Let daddy show you the bridge engineering station."

She sat with Trip while he muddled through explaining the station to her, but she seemed more intrested in Malcolm's station. "You wanna check out the security station, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. Is that ok?"

"Sure princess. Go ahead."

Jon watched Charlie intently as he was looking at every detail of the helm, absorbing every bit of information Travis was giving him. Charlie asked if he could sit at the station. Jon nodded. Once Charlie was seated, he ran a hand across the panel and reflexively took the stick with the other. Jon suddenly had an idea. He would put Charlie to the test. He tapped at the controls from his chair until he found what he was looking for. "Mr. Tucker. Bring us to heading three seven one Mark two eight. Full impulse." Charlie looked at him wide-eyed. "Did you hear me? Set coordinates and speed, Mr. Tucker."

Charlie looked up at Travis. "You heard the Captain. Do it."

"Um. Ok dad."

"Mr. Tucker, when you are on the bridge you will address me as Captain. The appropriate response would be 'aye Captain' or 'aye sir'. Understand?"

"Uh-aye Cap'n." Charlie turned and tapped the coordinates into the computer and worked the stick to the proper position to execute the heading. Travis looked at Jon nodding with a smile. He had done everything correctly.

After a few moments they were right where Jon wanted them to be. Charlie wasn't too sure what to do or say. "Uh. Cap'n, Sir. There's an asteroid field in front of us."

"And your point Mr. Tucker? Take us in."

Charlie gulped. "Ok da- I mean aye Cap'n." Charlie tapped the buttons and pulled the stick to navigate around the asteroids. Jon sat back in his chair watching Charlie make the calculations, working the helm, playing the dance of ship verses asteroids. He was pleased and mildly surprised at how relaxed and confident Charlie was. Even though Charlie had never seen a starship until now, let alone piloted one, he acted as if he'd been doing it his entire life. _Damn! Kid's a natural._ He thought.

They exited the asteroid field and Jon ordered to return course back to Earth and for Travis to resume his station. "Charlie. Come here." Charlie walked over and Jon noticed he didn't seem nervous or upset. Jon had a flash of the first time he had navigated an asteroid field. He was so nervous about it, it took him over an hour to stop shaking. "I'm proud of you son. You did an excellent job. Do you think that being a pilot is something you might like to do someday?"

Charlie thought for a moment. "I don't know. It's a big commitment. I'd have to think about it for a while."

Jon smiled. A very mature response. "Fair enough."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_**Not all humans are human...**_

Jon, Trip and T'Pol sat in shock listening to the committee board as one of the Admirals was speaking. "We can't allow the three of you to serve on the same ship, not to mention that a polygamist marriage isn't recognized by Starfleet Command."

"What about Denobulans? You recognize their marriage don't you? Hell, the chief medical officer on Enterprise is Denobulan, or did you forget that?" Jon said with the offense and anger coming through in his voice.

"That's different. Denobulans aren't human, their culture has different standards than Earth and Vulcan. You're comparing apples and oranges here."

"The Rehkuh u' veh is a Vulcan custom." T'Pol informed them.

Soval scoffed. "T'Pol, you know that custom was before the time of Surak. The Rehkuh u' veh in today's Vulcan society is considered barbaric. In fact I'm surprised that you would do something so...illogical."

"But not banned." T'Pol was quick to point out. "Besides you weren't on Celestia. For us, it was the most logical thing to do."

"A Vulcan can't bond with two individuals. It's impossible."

"No Soval. Not impossible. Yes, my bond with Trip is much stronger than it is with Jon, but Jon and I do share a bond as well, and as I said...you wasn't there."

"That's tell'n him honey!" Trip added.

Soval's eyes got wide. "T'Pol, obviously being isolated with these two... _humans_ has damaged your reasoning and logic. You need to return to Vulcan immediately to undergo the Kolinahr in order to undo the damage that has been caused."

"No." T'Pol said flatly.

"What?" Soval asked in disbelief.

"I will not undergo the Kolinahr. I will not break my bond, or vows with either Trip or Jon. They are both my husbands. I love them both equally."

Soval shook his head. "_Love?_ You sound like..._a human_."

Jon sensed the anger swelling in T'Pol and attempted to deflect Soval away. "So, it's because of our marriage that Starfleet is handing down this reassignment, splitting us up?"

"It's not just that, Captain." The Admiral continued. "Obviously the three of you have an inappropriate...closeness. Look at Commander Tucker here. Any other Captain would have ordered his hair cut immediately...not to mention that thing in his ear."

"You ain't cutt'n my hair! Over my dead body! Y'all wouldn't force someone to cut their hair if it were for religion. Besides the women can have long hair, as long as it's pulled up and outta the way. I keep my hair outta the way."

The committee couldn't deny that his hair was out of the way. Today Trip chose to loop his braid diagonally from his shoulder to hip in the front and up around his back wearing it as some sort of sash. "Maybe it's out of the way, but the length is not for religious reasons and therefore against personnel codes."

Now Trip was put on his toes, he had to think fast. "It denotes my position among my tribe." Everyone in the room looked at him in disbelief at his flimsy excuse as he continued. "My wife, husband and children _are_ my tribe."

Jon rolled his eyes. "Look, Trip made a good point. If a female officer's hair was that long, it wouldn't be an issue as long as she kept it out of the way. Trip does a good job at keeping his hair out of the way. It's a double standard. I don't see why it would be an issue here."

"And that thing in his ear? Not even female officers are allowed to wear earrings. And what is that thing anyways?"

This one Jon was going to field for Trip. "It's a tooth. There is a sort of religious purpose there. It's a symbol of strength and courage. Overcoming adversity. Like a rite of passage. He absolutely cannot allow that to be removed." On Celestia, when Trip first explained to Jon about his need to pierce his ear and slowly gauge the opening for the tooth to fit through, it made sense. Today in Jon's mind, it still made sense.

The Admiral sighed. "This is why we have to reassign you. The three of you are too close to these subjects to be objective. Obviously Captain, you'll stick up for them and go against protocol to allow them whatever whim that suits them. We can't allow this to happen in Starfleet. Not even one human officer can be allowed to bend the rules or it sends a wrong message to others."

Jon had a sudden realization of what the Admiral had just said and decided to test the waters. "And our children? They weren't born on Earth or Vulcan, the only society standards they know are the ones we created on Celestia. What species would you classify them as?" The committee board looked at each other. _Ah-ha! Didn't think about that did you?_ Jon thought to himself.

"Captain, we're not talking about your children here, we're talking about the three of you. Two humans and a Vulcan. We will not recognize this polygamist marriage. As far as we're concerned, effective immediately, it's dissolved." Jon and Trip both jumped to their feet and yelling at the same time. They were saying different words, but the message was the same, '_You can't do this to us'._ T'Pol put her hand up and both of her husbands snapped their mouths shut. Soval raised an eyebrow, it was obvious to him who was really in charge among the three.

Jon huffed. "I'm not human." He said flatly. The room fell silent and all eyes were on him.

"Careful Captain. You might be opening up a can here." The Admiral cautioned.

"Let it be opened then. I'm not human anymore. I'm Celestian."

"Celestia isn't a recognized ally of Starfleet. Do you understand what you're saying here?"

"Yes sir." Jon removed the ranking pips from his uniform and gently laid them on the table. "Effective immediately, I resign my commission and denounce my Earth citizenship. I am a citizen of Celestia."

Trip thought for only a second before removing his pips. "I also resign my commission and denounce my Earth citizenship. I am Celestian."

Soval looked at T'Pol with pleading eyes as she stood. "I also denounce my Vulcan citizenship. I too am Celestian."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Trip had contacted his parents before leaving San Francisco to inform them of what had happened and that he would be coming home, bringing his family with him. When he walked into the house his mother gave him a big hug while his father started bellowing. "Those bureaucratic bastards! I have half a mind to head for San Francisco and..."

Trip put up a hand. "It's ok dad. Maybe it might end up being for the better."

"For the better? How the hell is forcing you to resign and denounce your birthright for the better?"

"I don't know. I'm tired and I really don't want to get into this right now. Ok?"

His mother looked at him with worry. "Ok honey. We won't talk about it if you don't want to. Do you want to go lay down?"

Trip thought for a moment. He had told them about his unusual marriage, but he was still unsure if his parents had, or will, accept it. At the moment he was too tired to care. "Yeah. I think I do."

Trip led T'Pol and Jon upstairs with the intent to show them to one of the guest rooms but stopped at his room first to put his bags away. When he opened the door he was shocked. His old bed had been replaced by a bigger bed. A bed big enough for three. He heard his mom in the hallway. "Uh, mom? What's up with the bed?"

"Well you told us that you're married to T'Pol and Jon here. We assume the three of you share a bed. You don't?"

"Well, yeah. I mean on Celestia we did. I'm just surprised that you and dad would think about that."

"She's your wife, he's your husband. Why wouldn't we think about it?"

"I don't know. I wasn't really sure if you'd be ok with it to tell you the truth."

"Of course we're ok with it. Yes, it's a little strange, but you're our son. We'll support you in any decision you make." She cupped his face. "Oh look at you. Look at what they've done to my baby boy! You've aged so much in the past month. I know it's been seventeen years for you, but still. Now the three of you go lay down and get some rest. Don't worry about the kids, me and your daddy will keep them occupied. I'll call you when dinner is ready. T'Pol? I've never met a Vulcan before, so forgive my ignorance but I understand that you don't eat meat? Is there anything else I should know before making dinner?"

"I don't consume anything that comes from an animal, which would include dairy products. Whatever you prepare will be acceptable though."

"And the children?"

"T'Mir and Charlie eat meat. Henry doesn't."

"Well, I'll make sure to have plenty of vegetables for you both. Enjoy you naps. Oh! And if you three start to feel frisky...try not to get too loud." Trip's mother chuckled.

"_MOM!_" Trip said in shock as she closed the door. T'Pol now saw where Trip got his obscure sense of humor from.

They milled around the house for the next few days, each of them feeling unsure of what would happen next. Trip was in the bedroom contemplating if he should bother to check any messages he might have. Headhunters were always after a piece of him, he'd receive at least a dozen offers a day, but now he wondered if he'd receive even one. He wasn't too concerned for Jon, he knew that any number of companies would snap up the famed Captain in a heartbeat. His only fear concerning Jon was that he'd want to return to the stars that had always called to him, most likely a job on a cargo ship that would take him away for months at a time.

No, his biggest concern was for T'Pol. Giving up her Vulcan citizenship, she would never be able to return to her homeworld as she was now an outcast. He worried that she would have a hard time finding a place on Earth as well. Even though it had been seventeen years for them, Earth had stood still and xenophobia still ran rampant.

He opened his messages. He first noticed individual messages from Hoshi, Malcolm and Travis. He ignored them as he knew they were messages of how, when and why. He wasn't ready to deal with that now. Then he was shocked. Not only had he received one job offer, but several dozen. More than he'd ever gotten before. The offers were coming from companies all over the world and throwing obscene amounts of salaries at him to lure him away from their competitors.

Then he saw a message from one of his cousins in Kentucky that got his attention and opened it to see what she had to say.

_Hey cousin. I heard you was back on Earth and thought I'd drop a line. Ok. That's not entirely accurate. Don't get mad at Aunt Marie, she wasn't spreading family gossip, but your mom is worried. She told me about your crazy marriage and the bullshit Starfleet put y'all through over it. Well, I talked to my boss, you remember Mr. Willows right? Anyway he would love to have you here. Your engineering reputation proceeds you, as if you didn't know. You could probably set your own salary and he'd give it to you. Plus he's chomping at the bit to have a Vulcan in the science lab. I bet she could set her own salary too. As far as Jon, well having a Starfleet Captain to pick their brain? Let's just say Jon could give huge insights as to what will and won't work with these propulsion experiments. There's a job for all three of you in Lexington. Let us know. Love and kisses. Katie._

Trip closed the messages as Jon walked in. He saw the stunned look on Trip's face and sat on the bed next to him. "What's wrong?"

"My cousin, Katie, her boss offered us a job. All three of us. We can set our own salaries."

"Well, that's good news isn't it?" Jon reached with his mind out of reflex and sensed a knot forming in Trip's stomach. "It's not? What are you really thinking?"

Trip laid his head on Jon's shoulder. "I don't know, Jon. I just don't know. Life was so much simpler on Celestia. I'm starting to wish we could go back."

Jon blew out a breath. "I thought it was only me that felt that way. This is going to be a long discussion."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The three were in the study with Trip's parents. They had made their decision and now it was time to talk to his parents about it. All three had knots in their stomachs as Trip began. "This is going to be hard for you to understand, but we've decided to go back to Celestia."

Trip's mother was shocked. "No! You can't do that! You'll be dead in months! Why would you do something like that?"

"Not months, mom. For us it will be years. Long, happy years. It's what we need to do. Jon and I no longer have a place on Earth and T'Pol no longer has a place on Vulcan. The only place we have a home is on Celestia. Can't you understand that?"

"No I can't understand it. You have a home here, with us. All of you have a home here. Please Trip, don't do this."

"We have to mom. I'm sorry."

Trip's father used his own tactics to stop his son from going to a planet where they would never see him again. "What about the children? Did you think about that? How are they going to have a life without a future or families of their own?"

Jon decided he'd answer that one. "We did think about it. Charlie is old enough now that if he wants to stay here or someplace else, he can. As for Henry and T'Mir, I can make arrangements to have people stop by Celestia to check up on us. When their old enough and ready to leave, they can. As for the three of us, we'll simply live out our lives on Celestia."

"But you realize you'll never see your children again once they leave Celestia."

"Yes. We're fully aware of that. But knowing that they're somewhere out there in the universe, happy and making their own lives is enough for us."

"Trip? You're really doing this?" His mother asked as tears ran down her face.

"Yes momma. I'm sorry this has caused you so much pain, but it's what we need to do."

The three spoke with their children and told them of their plan. They wondered how their house was holding up as it had been several years on Celestia since they left. Trip wondered about Bugs, she was already old when they left and he was pretty sure she'd be dead by now.

Jon had spoken to Malcolm and Hoshi, telling them of the plan and that they would need help with getting messages back and forth. They even thought of how they would get there, knowing that Starfleet wouldn't give them a shuttle that would be lost once entering the orbit of Celestia, Trip's parents helped them to purchase a private shuttle.

Jon was surprised that he received so many messages from his friends in Starfleet, word was getting around as to what had happened with the committee, resigning their commissions and their plans to return. He wasn't too surprised about his friend's outrage that he was put in a position to give up his career, but more surprised that so many were willing to help them with their plan to return to Celestia and willing to go against orders, if necessary to check in on them, once they realized they couldn't talk him out of this plan that is.

The day came and they were ready to leave when a message came to all three to return to San Francisco and once again stand in front of the committee board. "Haven't they done enough damage? What the hell more can they do to destroy us?" Trip fumed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The entire Enterprise crew stood in the shuttlebay waiting. Their new Captain, science officer and chief engineer was in process of docking. "What do you know about this Captain we're getting, Hosh?" Malcolm had asked.

"I don't know. Starfleet didn't transmit the personnel records of any of them. I'll probably get that later today."

Malcolm huffed. "I bet he's a stuffed shirt, by the book kind of guy. You know it's funny, I once had a conversation with the Captain that he was too lax with the rules and regulations around here but he had said that a good Captain can't always go by the book. He was right. We're a better crew and a great team simply because he wasn't a 'letter of the law' kind of guy."

"I wonder if the science officer will be another Vulcan." Travis groaned. "If he is, I'll bet anything he'll be one of those completely stiff, cold as ice type Vulcans. Nowhere near as approachable as Commander T'Pol." Travis thought for a second. "Ok yeah. I guess T'Pol was pretty cold when she first came on board, but her ice finally melted. I doubt we can do that twice."

Kelby gave his own opinion about the new chief engineer. "He won't be anywhere as good as Commander Tucker. Geez! This ship is going to start to fall apart in less than a year. I swear, Tucker has OCD or something, everything always had to be perfect. That's ok, that's what always kept this ship running in peak performance. Naw, this guy, first time we run into a battle, he'll resort to the standards of the engineering manual, ignoring any shortcuts Tucker would use to save our asses. We'll be blown to bits while fixing relays rather than bypassing them."

The shuttle docked and the hatch opened as the crew went to full attention. A head popped out and the bay was deathly quiet as the new Captain stepped out, followed by the science officer and chief engineer. He walked over and handed a PADD to Malcolm. "By order of Starfleet Command, effective immediately, I hereby take command of this starship. You are relieved Lieutenant."

"I stand relieved Captain."

Suddenly the entire crew erupted into cheers and shouts. Hoshi ran to hug the Captain. "We're so happy to have you back Captain Archer! All of you! But how? Don't tell me you guys caved and dissolved your Rehkuh u' vey marriage." Hoshi sounded wounded at that thought.

Jon shook his head laughing. "No. We didn't do that. Malcolm, our personnel files are in your hand there. Take a look at our profiles."

Malcolm tapped at the PADD, opening the Captain's profile first and skimmed it. "Date of birth, gender, height, weight, all that, Starfleet entrance date, serial number..." Malcolm stopped and looked up in shock. "Species..._Celestian!_" Malcolm checked the other profiles. "They all say Celestian!"

Jon gave a big grin as he wrapped each arm around the waists of T'Pol and Trip. "Yep. It's official. We're all officially and legally Celestians now."

Henry's head popped out of the shuttle. "Dad, can we come out now?"

"Oh. Yes, you can come out now."

T'Mir ran to Hoshi as Hoshi hoisted her up. "Aunt Hoshi! Ish-veh's agreeable tor gla-tor du va'ashiv. I din-tor du."

"I missed you too, little brat." And gave T'Mir a big hug.

Trip hollered. "Kelby! Have you started those manifold scrubs yet? You know it needs to be done every six months."

Kelby nudged at Travis. "See what I mean. OCD. No Commander. I was going to do that this afternoon."

"Good, don't start. We have a lot of work to do. We got some walls to tear up. Looks like we'll be taking up four quarter spaces. Sorry guys, but with five of us, we're gonna need some room."

Malcolm raised his eyebrows. "Five? Where's Charlie?"

Trip and Jon grinned at each other as Trip started to explain. "He stayed behind with my parents. He's entering Starfleet Academy next quarter. The first Celestian to officially enter the academy."

Jon puffed with pride. "Yep! He's going to be a pilot."

"How can that be?" Travis asked. "He's only sixteen."

Trip shrugged his shoulders. "You saw how quickly he picks up on things. He took the assessment exam and aced it. He's extremely intelligent...guess he gets that from his mother." Jon chuckled at Trip's cover story. "Anyways, Starfleet made a special case for him and gave him early entrance. Not only will he be the first Celestian, but the youngest cadet too."

"But how did it happen that Starfleet reinstated you? Celestia isn't recognized as allies of Starfleet." Hoshi pressed.

"We are now. It's a long story. All three of you, Captain's mess. Eighteen thirty for dinner. We'll tell you all about it."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

They sat in the Captain's mess eager to hear the details as Jon spoke. "We were all set to go back to Celestia when we got called to San Francisco. You could've knocked me over with a feather when the admiral told us that they had reconsidered and wanted to reinstate us." Hoshi and Malcolm gave each other a knowing look. Jon crinkled his eyebrows at them. "What? Did you guys have something to do with this?"

Hoshi wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Well. We couldn't let you go without a fight. It wasn't hard to convince the crew to send letters of protest to Starfleet. In fact most of them had already had letters drafted before we even made the decision to do it. Plus I made a few calls and put bugs in some people's ears about what was going on."

Jon shook his head and smiled. "Well that explains some of the messages I got from people I hadn't yet talked to. I'm not sure if I should be grateful or upset at your interference. I think I'll choose to be grateful."

"Yeah. Me too." Trip interjected. "The only thing I wasn't looking forward to about Celestia is the home brew alcohol. I much prefer scotch. I don't think we ever got used to the taste of that green stuff, did we sweetheart?" And Trip gave Jon a playful kiss on the cheek.

Everyone eye-balled him as Jon put up a finger. "Trip... I'm warning you." Jon continued with his story. "Yeah. Apparently half of the entire Starfleet personnel had been chewing at the committee board for the past few days. Guess the committee decided this was a battle they was going to lose."

So what about your reh...reh whatever?" Malcolm asked.

"Rehkuh u' veh." Trip said. "Yeah. We told them that there was no way in hell we would dissolve that. They was just gonna have to accept it or deal off. They was still adamant about it being a polygamist marriage, but after we reminded them that we denounced our citizenships, they had no choice but to recognize it. We even got a lawyer to do the paperwork and everything."

"But what about Celestia being an ally?" Hoshi still wasn't sure how all that came about.

"Well, since it's just the six of us, I guess they figured what would be the harm in making Celestia an official ally."

"Better to have us as allies than enemies looks like." Trip grinned.

"So how come they didn't assign you to different ships? And you Commander, your hair and the tooth. How did you guys convince them to go along with that?" Travis inquired.

Jon took that one. "We told them that we were a package deal 'All for one' as the musketeers say. Did some arguing about that, but in the end, they agreed. As for Trip's hair and tooth? Well...the hair denotes his place in our tribe and the tooth is a rite of passage."

Hoshi, Malcolm and Travis stared at him. Jon shrugged his shoulders. "Hey. That's our story and we're sticking with it."

Travis continued. "So seriously Commander. We know about the tooth, but yeah...what is up with the hair? How long are you going to let it grow?"

Trip grinned at him. "Til I get tired of it or I die. Whichever comes first."

Hoshi lifted her glass. "Well then. Here's to long life and long hair."

Jon and Trip looked at each other in shock. "Did you tell her...?"

"No. You didn't...?"

"Nope."

Jon and Trip raised their glasses. "Here, here." They both said.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

_**We are Celestian...**_

It has been six months since Archer and his "tribe" returned to Enterprise. He had blown the rust off and stopped second guessing himself. Yes, he was almost back to his old self. He was still a bit the "fun kind of crazy" as he once put it. The crew had gotten accustomed to his cracking the oddball joke at the most inappropriate time, even accustomed to the loving playfulness he would have with his spouses, and the crew adored having Henry and T'Mir running around the ship causing mischief.

They were in a familiar region of space and Jon ordered Travis to take them in. Trip arrived on the bridge, with kids in tow, just as the clouds started to clear and the planet became visible on the view screen. They stayed a safe distance from the planet as the family gathered together to get a long look. As they stood, Trip grabbed Jon's hand and pressed himself into Jon. _Holding my hand? This is new._ Jon thought. He decided to let it slide and gave Trip's hand a light squeeze. Jon's voice was raspy and thick as he said. "Goodbye Celestia. We left a piece of us with you, and you left a piece with us."

T'Pol tipped her head to the planet. "You were a precious home. Thank you."

Trip's heart felt heavy. "Goodbye little rabaroos... Jon, can I-"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Fine."

Hoshi crinkled her brows at the comm panel. "Sir. You're not going to believe this. There's an automated message coming from the surface."

Jon looked shocked then thought for a moment. "It's probably the automatic distress call I sent out when we first crashed. We should disable that before we leave."

"We did disable it, when we found you. This isn't the distress call. The message is coming from the probe."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Really? Did we somehow miss a transmission? Let's hear it, might be fun."

The voice on the speakers was speaking Vulcan. They listened to it before translating into English. Jon, Trip, T'Pol and Hoshi, being the only ones who understood was in shock.

_This is an automated message. We are a Vulcan colony who are considered as Vrekasht, or outcasts, among our people because of emotions too close to the surface or disagreeable political opinions. There are one hundred and twelve of us who have originally settled here. We have chosen to make Celestia our home and live out our lives in peace. Be aware that for each day in normal space is one year on Celestia. If you are outcast of your world and wish to live your years in peace and harmony, all species are welcomed. Peaceful life and harmony to you. This message will repeat in five seconds._

"Hoshi, can we send a message back?" Jon asked excitedly.

"Yes sir. Don't forget there will be delay time for a response."

"I remember." Jon waited until Hoshi signaled. _This is Jonathan Archer. A Celestian. We heard your message and quite frankly it took us by surprise. Is there anything you need we can send? Anything we can help you with? We await your response._

After a few moments a beep.

_Jonathan Archer! It is a great honor to have you visit us. I'm sure it was a shock. I am S'Lorm. A Celestian. I'm sure you have many questions and I hope to answer them all now. We heard about your planet and found it a suitable place to colonize. We hope you don't mind. Our numbers have grown since that automated message. Our population is now at four hundred and eighty-nine. Mostly Vulcan ancestry, descendants of the original colony, but there are a few Andorians, Tellarites, Klingons and Orions that have found us and wished to settle here as well. No, we don't need you to send anything thank you for the offer. You're probably wondering about your house. The original settlers fixed it up and it now serves as sort of a museum, a reminder of the first Celestians. We are pleased that you sent your message and understand that you may choose not to come down in persons due to the temporal distortion. I am sure that T'Pol and Mr. Tucker are with you? We would be honored if you could send another message that would be broadcast in auditorium for all to hear. We await your response. Peace and harmony be with you._

The colony gathered to hear the message from the first Celestians.

_My fellow Celestians. It is a great honor to have you all gathered today. I would first like to inform you that there have been a few changes in the past six months. Well I guess that would be..._they heard Trip's voice in the background one hundred eighty-two point five years. _One hundred eighty-two point five years in Celestian time. Celestia is now an official ally of Earth and Starfleet Command. Now that we know you're here we will arrange that someone will come by to check on you. If any descendants choose to leave Celestia wishing to join Starfleet Academy, the door is open. It fills our hearts with joy that so many of you have made a home here and built a society on the foundation that we laid. Our children, your children and the future children of Celestia have accomplished great things and will accomplish much more. Myself, my wife and my husband are very honored and proud to have you all as part of our tribe. Our brotherhood._ They heard Trip again. The first law. _Oh yes. Trip wanted me to inform you of the first law of Celestia...no killing or eating rabaroos. By penalty of death._ Jon chuckled._ Actually I think that should be the second law. The fist law should be to live peacefully, be kind to one another and keep love and joy in your hearts. Peace and harmony be with you all. _Trip added his own farewell. _Love and joy be in your hearts eternally. _T'Pol added hers. _Wu ha'kiv heh smusma'es. [Translation: long life and prosperity.]_

Jon looked at Trip and T'Pol. "Do you think Adam and Eve started out this way?"

T'Pol cocked an eyebrow. "Who are Adam and Eve?"

Jon and Trip shook their heads laughing. "Never mind T'Pol, never mind."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

_**And time moves on...**_

In the recent months, Jon, Trip and T'Pol were named official ambassadors of Celestia. Starfleet made arrangements for bi-weekly fly-bys to check up on the inhabitants of Celestia. Some of the descendant had chosen to leave Celestia, a few entering the Academy while others simply wanted to see what was beyond their own backyard.

The three ambassadors sent messages via whatever ship that was scheduled to check in on Celestia, just to let the people know that they hadn't been forgotten and that they were still all one tribe, no matter their original species, they were all now one...Celestian.

Charlie was doing well at the Academy, excelling in all of his courses. Even scaring the hell out of his flight instructor the first time he navigated an asteroid field. Jon was tickled to death when he heard about that.

Trip's hair was still long and getting longer and still kept the tooth in his ear. Jon was still the "fun kind of crazy" and the crew got used to T'Pol smiling and cracking the occasional joke.

Oh! Did we mention...baby number four on the way?

_**End**_


End file.
